People who have lived through hard things often describe joy not as the absence of difficulty but as something that coexists with it, arriving sideways, unannounced. What these moments have in common is that none of them were planned. They came from human nature doing what it quietly does when nobody is trying to perform it: reaching across, staying put, telling the truth.
If these stories stayed with you, this piece is worth reading next: 10 Moments That Prove the Most Valuable Skill in Life Is Quiet Kindness. Humanity, it turns out, keeps leaving evidence of itself everywhere.
