“Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.”
— Charles Dickens
From the novel 'Our Mutual Friend' (1865). Dickens knew what he was talking about: he grew up in poverty, worked as a child in a factory, and spent his life writing about people society had written off. This line is not about softness. It is about the strength to stay kind in a world that rewards cruelty.
When I was twelve, my father was in a debtors' prison and I was pasting labels at a blacking factory. Ten hours a day. I was ashamed. I thought it was over, that I would never leave that place. But I kept watching. Every face, every injustice, every ache. And then I wrote it all down. If you are somewhere that feels like there is no way out, keep watching. What you are going through will become your strength. Not because suffering is useful. But because you can turn it into something that helps someone else.