Borrow a View, Build a Village

I watched empathy in action before breakfast the other day when my son noticed that the last cinnamon granola bar—the one he and his sister both love—lay unclaimed on the counter. For a heartbeat he eyed it like a pirate with treasure, then without any prompting he snapped the bar in two and slid half onto her plate. “If I’d been the one who wanted it,” he whispered, “I’d hope somebody would share.” Nothing I could say about kindness would match the lesson in that small crunch of foil and crumbs.

His logic was pure Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It’s the willingness to set down our own cravings long enough to imagine someone else’s. Empathy.

That same current of reciprocity is in the room every Wednesday at 1 Million Cups. We circle the chairs, warm the coffee, and invite a local entrepreneur to lay bare a dream that may still be held together with duct tape. For minutes everyone listens, then the room offers ideas. I’ve watched people walk out saying they finally understand their business after years of wrestling alone—just neighbors practicing the discipline of imagining how the world looks from the podium instead of the back row.

Empathy takes training. It asks us to sit with someone’s disappointment or panic without flinching, to notice the prejudices we bring to the table, and then to respond in a way we ourselves would find comforting. When my children bicker, I try to coach them to begin with simple offers: “Would you like a hug?” or “I can sit with you and listen.” If the moment calls for support instead of consolation, “I’m proud of you, no matter what.” These phrases aren’t scripts so much as gateways; they open space for the other person to breathe and for conflict to soften into understanding.

Parenting, community meet-ups, client work. These spheres aren’t separate lanes so much as overlapping rings. Holding the door for another parent in the school car line becomes a lesson my kids echo when they share crayons. Offering constructive suggestions at 1 Million Cups sharpens the listening skills I use in project kick-offs. Respect shown to a vendor returns as a deadline met. The Golden Rule is like a password. Once you know it, every interaction connects a little faster.

Join Us at 1 Million Cups

If you haven’t dropped by our Wednesday-morning gathering yet, the chairs are open and the coffee is waiting. Bring a problem, bring an insight, or just bring the willingness to borrow another person’s view for half an hour. The returns on that small investment in empathy are, like half a granola bar shared before school, surprisingly satisfying. And they last a lot longer than the crumbs on the plate.
Learn more at: 1 Million Cups – Atlanta South