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[abrightboy]

 This is Bright. Leave a message.

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[abrightboy]

Is that the only reason you want to be close to people? To wield power over them?

[citizendetective]

It's the other way around.

[She says, squinting down at her nails.]

I want to wield power over them so I can stay close to them.

[abrightboy]

That's not what people want from their friends.

When she betrayed your trust and you thought you lost that control, how did you feel?

[citizendetective]

Well, she didn't betray my trust, she let me down. And I felt... upset. Hurt.

[A pause.]

Scared.

[abrightboy]

So when you let me down by - in this case - betraying my trust, how do you think I felt?

[citizendetective]

Upset and hurt. Not scared, I assume.

But I already knew that.

[abrightboy]

Knowing it and feeling it aren't the same. So think about how that kind of upset and hurt felt; really feel it again and then consider that you made me feel that way. How does that make you feel?

[citizendetective]

[She's quiet for a good long moment, considering the question.]

Regretful, I think. But I already regretted that you felt that way.

[A pause.]

That I made you feel that way.

[abrightboy]

You regretted that I was upset with you because you thought it might end our friendship. What's different with your regret now?

[citizendetective]

I also regretted that you thought I didn't care about you, and I still do.

[abrightboy]

But what’s different now?

[citizendetective]

I might regret it... more?

[is that the right answer]

[abrightboy]

For what reason?

[citizendetective]

I don't know, Malcolm, probably because you keep bringing it up and so I'm thinking about it more.

[abrightboy]

Feeling the feelings yourself didn’t change anything?

[citizendetective]

[Her brow furrows, and she shakes her head.]

I'm not sure that they're actually the same feelings.

[abrightboy]

Everybody has the same feelings you do.

[citizendetective]

But not always for the same reasons...

[She trails off of that thought, turning around to face him.]

People don't always feel real to me. But you do. I want you to know that, Malcolm.

[abrightboy]

I appreciate that. What I want you to do is take that list of people you wronged and, instead of writing what you think they think, I want you to put yourself in their place and write how they feel.

[citizendetective]

But isn't that obvious? They feel angry, violated...

[abrightboy]

Is it obvious? That’s not what you wrote.

[citizendetective]

I thought it was obvious. And I figured they all felt that, so I wanted to write something more personalized.

[abrightboy]

They didn’t all have the same relationship with you, so they couldn’t have all felt the same way. You didn’t put yourself in their place. You need to feel what they feel to empathize with them. It’s not an intellectual exercise. You’re working on the problem from the wrong side of your brain.

[citizendetective]

And if the thing you want me to do isn't something I'm good at?

[abrightboy]

If it were something you were good at, you wouldn't need to do this. I want you to be able to consider how what you do affects other people before you do the things. To do that, you have to start by considering how what you did affected the people you did it to. How they felt. What it did to them. You can't do that by telling me how you think they SHOULD feel about it.