Journal 8

Sometimes having a rational response to someone who is emotional can be very helpful to the conflict that is upsetting the other person so much. For example one time a friend of mine came up to me and was very upset because her hamster had passed away the day before. She had loved her hamster more than almost anything in the whole world. At first I had no idea how to console my friend about the loss of her beloved pet and was unsure of what to say to make her feel better. After considering the situation and evaluating the ways that I could react, I decided to take a rational approach with my friend. I knew that anything I would say in her time of emotion would not necessarily fix her broken heart, but when she considered it later that she could begin to heal. So, while my friend was looking to me for comfort about her hamster, I reminded her of the sickness that the hamster had been dealing with a long time. I gently told her that her hamster had lived longer than was expected and she should be happy for that. I also told her that the hamster was always in pain, and that now he would be free of his burden. I think that this gentle and rational response was able to help my friend heal a lot. I think that if my response had been emotional like many of the other people she talked to had been, I would not have been able to help her feel better. She realized that she had let her own feelings get in the way when think of her hamsters death, and she realized that her hamster would no longer feel the pain he had during life. I think this made my friend be able to accept the death of her beloved pet much more easily. In the end I think my rational response was very helpful.