When we rise, even briefly, up the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs, our capacity for compassion and patience widens in ways we didn’t know were possible. At each turn in the book of my life, I am trying to live from that higher place. The true challenge, the real strength, is to stay there even when others do not meet us halfway in our pursuit of empathy and growth. Compassion means little when it is easy, when it flows toward those we find likable. Real empathy is proven when we o