“Consider how any empathetic connection forms.

You begin with some point of commonality with your own life, something as elaborate as a similar identity or experience or as simple as a feeling everybody knows firsthand, such as pain or affection. From what is same, however basic, you can begin to bridge the difference to what is other, and learn something new through someone else’s eyes.

This leap will always involve some element of imagination, as we cannot know exactly what someone may be feeling on the other side. Thus empathy and irrepressible imagination are not merely impediments to clear understanding, but may instead offer new avenues toward it.”

Caitrin Keiper