Ministering to someone in need

[jdurand]

A friend just confided in me the details of an event that happened when they were a kid.  It didn't happen the way they've told it for decades.  When the event happened, they felt they were guilty for it and have been harboring that guilt all these years and never confided in anyone what really happened.  I knew they always seemed to feel guilty but never could get to the cause.

After talking with them a while I saw from their honest description of the events that it probably wasn't their fault, it just seemed that way at the time.  Sort of like accidentally stepping in front of someone in a hallway while you were actually trying to get out of their way.  Makes you feel stupid but in reality you and the other person just happened to dodge in the same direction (I have some deeper thoughts on that, but that's not relevant at the moment).

The person went off feeling relief from guilt that's been with them for decades, said they have a lot of thinking to do with this realization.

It's times like this I'm glad I'm a Dudeist and can help people.  I wasn't even wearing the unofficial Dudeist bath robe, just normal clothes.

[Captain Will]

That's awesome, dude.  If everyone would give a listening ear or a kind word when needed, this world would be a hell of a lot more mellow.  Good on ya!

[Yeti]

Letting go of something like that does wonders for your mental and emotional health.