But I still don’t have any answers. I still don’t understand how people can be so mean, or why. I try to see all sides of the argument, even when I know I will never agree. But this kind of senseless hate will never make sense to me. Why is someone being his or herself so egregiously offensive? How does that affect anyone else?

The only universal truth is to be kind. Life is hard enough without making it harder for each other. Of course, there will be days when everyone annoys us. There will be days we feel snarky & mean. But I hope for all of us, the days when we can find it in us to be kind outweigh all of the others. It really is true that you never know what someone else is going through, or how much a smile instead of a smirk, a laugh with instead of a laugh at, or a kind word instead of a cruel one, can make all the difference.