I wish I could share this with the people in their rooms lit up at night, making worlds I'll never know. You're right. It's not an act of imagination so much as a recognition of vast mysteries. With deep appreciation for what you do, what you know, and what you show.
This piece moves me deeply, Patti. What you articulated so beautifully here—and in your TEDx talk, especially that call to “grant specificity to the other”—is exactly the bridge I try to build every day.
Your framing of sonder as a kind of grace, a shift from soliloquy to chorus, brought me right back to that idea: that stories collapse the distance between two strangers. That when we pause to truly see, the person in front of us stops being a what (a label, a role, a blur in the background) and becomes a who—a full, layered, living being.
The beauty of your Indianapolis talk was showing us that the gap between strangers isn’t unbridgeable—it just requires the radical act of recognizing someone’s full humanity. My tokens are simply one way of beginning that conversation—using art as a conduit.
Thank you for reminding us that empathy isn’t sentiment—it’s perspective. And a practice.
Listening to your Ted Talk 11 years ago adds so much content to the sonder concept. Amazing just how far in reverse gear we have come in that 11 year time span.
I wish I could share this with the people in their rooms lit up at night, making worlds I'll never know. You're right. It's not an act of imagination so much as a recognition of vast mysteries. With deep appreciation for what you do, what you know, and what you show.
In this time when empathy is considered weakness, this is a powerful way to reframe what matters and how we're meant to be with each other.
This piece moves me deeply, Patti. What you articulated so beautifully here—and in your TEDx talk, especially that call to “grant specificity to the other”—is exactly the bridge I try to build every day.
Your framing of sonder as a kind of grace, a shift from soliloquy to chorus, brought me right back to that idea: that stories collapse the distance between two strangers. That when we pause to truly see, the person in front of us stops being a what (a label, a role, a blur in the background) and becomes a who—a full, layered, living being.
The beauty of your Indianapolis talk was showing us that the gap between strangers isn’t unbridgeable—it just requires the radical act of recognizing someone’s full humanity. My tokens are simply one way of beginning that conversation—using art as a conduit.
Thank you for reminding us that empathy isn’t sentiment—it’s perspective. And a practice.
With gratitude from one ripple-maker to another,
—Mansi
Thank you for a reminder of how to be out in the world.
I love what you wrote. Love. and I love you.
I will never forget this. Thank you Patti! <3
I'm so happy you're here, Patty. Love it when our worlds collide all over the place.
Listening to your Ted Talk 11 years ago adds so much content to the sonder concept. Amazing just how far in reverse gear we have come in that 11 year time span.