Forest Rose

I've been thinking about how I think about other people a lot lately. I tend to assume that people are ...not innocent, exactly, but possessed of purity of intent. I rarely assume intent to harm.

I don't assume that people necessarily want the best for other people; that's an entirely different set of motivations.

It's been difficult to maintain this sort of not-exactly optimism in the face of people who clearly and visibly want to harm others. That faction has been so much more visible over the last several years, and it hurts because while I can read about the motivations, both in their own words and in the interpretations of others, and grasp them on an intellectual level, I cannot understand them on any emotional level, and I don't want to.

I don't want that, for any of us.