The person who seemed impatient with you this morning. The coworker who barely spoke. The teenager who answered with a shrug. The stranger who didn’t return your smile. What if their behavior wasn’t really about you? Every day, we cross paths with people carrying worries, grief, fear, exhaustion, or loneliness that never appear on the surface. We usually see only a moment of their story—and then our minds confidently fill in the rest. Sometimes, our minds deserve an award for