Everyone you pity, everyone you love, those with whom you empathize or despise -- the wretched and the blessed -- all most need to be acknowledged. Noticed. Heard. We all need a witness -- to both our joy and our pain.

To recognize the spark behind the eyes of another is our most eminently worthy gesture of humanity. To withhold such a small instant of focus from any living person seems ... cruel.

We focus so much on gaining acknowledgement for ourselves that we miss the easiest act of grace and power -- even gods notoriously pass it over -- to look into the eyes of another and simply allow ourselves to see ...

the flash of mirrors there.