Posts Tagged ‘empathy’

Ever get caught up in a situation so off-the-wall nuts that your mind discombobulates, making you incapable of uttering coherent sounds? When that happened to me recently, the first person I saw was my friend, Diane. Fortunately, with friends who understand you that well, words aren’t necessary. “I know,” she said, grabbing me for a quick hug, “Now go, go.”

That registered. Seconds later I was in the parking lot, my hands shaking so that I couldn’t find my clump of keys in a purse pocket no more than four inches wide and deep. Oblivious to the lightly falling rain, I dropped my unopened umbrella and everything else on the wet grass, clawed out my keys, then grabbed my soggy belongings and slung them across the driver’s seat at the passenger door. Finally I was off.

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Poor Virgil was a sweet young man saddled with total ineptitude. Whatever he touched, he broke. No matter how simple the job, he botched it. Finally, given the easy task of polishing a set of keys, he managed to wear away the grooves, rendering the keys useless and sealing the door they were supposed to unlock.

Faced with this latest example of his incompetence, his cousin Barney berated his stupidity, leaving Virgil hanging his head in shame and defeat.

Fans of The Andy Griffith Show recognize the plot from the episode “Cousin Virgil.” But most of us have witnessed similar interactions between managers and employees—or worse, between parents and children. People screw up and other people berate them. We may have been on the giving or receiving ends of similar experiences.

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