What event changed your way of thinking permanently? My stepdad actually sitting with me and explaining why he was hurt and disappointed when I messed up.

Happened in my early teens and the look on his face is still burned in my mind.

To clarify, growing up, I had a lot of dysfunctional relatives who'd punish me and the other kids in the family.

But never explain why or what we did wrong.

Just immediate punishment. No questions, nothing. The first couple of times I screwed up,

stepdad actually made an effort to figure out why and sort out the reason I wasn't listening

or was acting out. Nobody else had really ever done that. It immediately felt different and suddenly I realized, yes, I'm a huge butthole for saying

in doing whatever it was or not doing something, since there was no reason for it.

The fact he had empathy and understanding was huge for me.

We have an awesome relationship and he's done more for me in the last 25 years than most other blood relatives did my entire life.

Mw. I love it. I love it when people are just, you know, receptive to, you know, treating them well.

It's a shame not everyone acts that way when people try to treat them with empathy and kindness.

New a kid who came from college during winter break to his hometown in Wisconsin.

Went out for a walk on the coldest day of the year.

Nothing unusual about the neighborhood, upper middle class, spread out, big yards, his phone died,

and he knocked on his neighbor's doors because he was so cold and probably started suffering from hypothermia.

He could have been disorientated and lost his way.

He was only a few houses away from his house, literally passed out and died a few houses down

and was found the next day. No alcohol or drugs. Really good kid. Nothing strange. So sad.

When my mom, 51, was diagnosed with brain cancer and almost exactly a year later she passed

away.

This was in July of this year.

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