People max out on the trauma or bad news they can consume and still pretend to be sane. So, they stop. They resist hearing stories. They ignore obvious signs. They retreat from the "wounded" and feel a little better. What they don't understand is that no one wants them to be a sin eater - to consume their stories. They just want someone to listen and hear them. Just be there.

Years ago in a grand gesture of freedom and escape my parents moved 50 miles away from Brooklyn to a "better place." It was a gulag for me. They never asked. They just assumed.

Asking a simple question and listening - not too hard to do, but so rewarding.