I do not recommend coldness, indifference, or ridicule as a substitute for sympathy. But instead of leading the sick man on to tell you the details of his illness, and to describe all his symptoms, while your own body responds with sympathetic aches and pains as you listen, it is kinder to divert his attention to some cheerful and merry topic, or to refer to some case like his own which resulted in perfect restoration to health. Instead of going down into his underground cave of depression, bring him out into the wholesome sunlight of your own healthful state, even if for a moment only, and impress upon his mind that health belongs to him, and must return to him.
To the man in business trouble the same advice applies.
Tell him you are sorry for him, but do not take on his despondency to prove it.
Talk of the future and all the possibilities it holds for a determined man or woman.
Make him laugh. Speak of trouble as the gymnasium where our moral muscles are developed. Answer him that everything he desires is his if he will be persistent and determined in demanding his own. If you put force in your words you will leave an impression.
Do not go away from the house of trouble in tears, but leave the troubled ones you called upon smiling as you depart.
That is true sympathy.
The Breath
