At work, in life, there are people you encounter who are hard to deal with.  This is an inevitability.  The challenge comes in finding ways to connect with them on any level: personal, professional, even comical. 

I have one such individual.  I deal with him through tough love, although everyone often gasps when I do.  I am hard on him, in my own way.  And every now and again, he smiles.

But for the most part, he is made of stone.  It’s hard to find the person in there.  I’ve tried to imagine him at home, with his children, and wonder if he softens for them.  If he giggles while his grandchildren use his massive frame as a jungle-gym.  If he tears up at every cartoon that hints at growing up, like I do.

Nothing drives home humanity and the frail nature of it so much as sitting next to someone when they receive news of death.  To watch the color drain from their face, and their eyes tighten, and see them tense up around the notion of never seeing the face of a loved one again.. that is something that makes you empathize with even the most intolerable human being.

All I could do was put my hand on his.  He was trembling.

It’s been a long day.