As India struggles for existence amidst the pandemic, lakhs of families are losing their loved ones every single day. But then one has to work to keep the homes running.
But if there’s someone out there who cares about you and would hear you out, then this pain is somehow lessened.
Such was the simple yet great act of a Canadian woman who talked about her Delhi-based colleague’s tragic loss, empathizing with him.
Sarah Bezanson, Senior Manager, Learning, Development, and Training at Meta Growth wrote a post on Linkedin about a conversation she had with a man residing in the New Delhi office. She contacted him for tech support. They made small talk beside the work when she asked him where he was. To this, he replied that he was in New Delhi.
She then paused for a minute before asking how he was doing, to which the man broke down on the call saying, “I’m so sorry. It’s really bad here. I’ve lost someone every day for 10 days.”
On hearing this, she wanted to comfort him. She right away asked him to forget about the issue she had called him up for. She told the man that he had nothing to be sorry for. That she could talk if he needed to or just leave the line open in silence so he could take a break from the phones and hold space for his grief.
“We stayed on for almost an hour, just being humans.” Sarah wrote.
The Toronto resident urged people to be empathetic and patient while speaking to someone on a toll-free line or when jumping into a chat.
“There’s a person on the other end and they may be valiantly showing up and doing their best while they are living through absolute hell,” she stressed.
Humanity above everything ❣️
— Ganga Kariappa (@gangess) May 11, 2021
Her little stroke of humanity has been winning hearts over the internet. Someone even hoped that the overseas clients understand the state of India at the moment.
Talk. Listen. Empathize. It works like magic in these trying times.