The blunt message.
The terse review.
The reply that felt like a jab.
Your mind fills in a motive,
and the motive is always the worst one.
Most of the time, you're wrong.
That person was rushed.
Typing on a phone.
Buried in their own bad day.
Not attacking you at all.
Text strips out the tone,
and your brain supplies
the most threatening version.
So supply a kinder one on purpose.
Assume they meant well
until you truly can't.
You lose almost nothing by being wrong
in the generous direction —
and you save yourself
a hundred conflicts
that only ever existed in your head.
Read it in the best voice, not the worst.
Most fights start
in the gap where tone should be.
– Asael Shinder
