“Think if you became, if you become the person you're talking to...”

From an interview by Stephen Colbert with Steven Spielberg, about his new movie Disclosure Day:Colbert: There are many moments in this when Emily Blunt’s character, without giving anything away, expresses this empathy toward people and it doesn’t just get them out of a tight bond at times, it actually changes the people to whom she is expressing this inner power of hers and those are some of the most beautiful moments of the film.Spielberg: I think if you became, if you become the person you’re talking to, even if it’s for five seconds and in five seconds to understand deeply everything this person’s been through throughout their entire life before you come back to yourself, there would be a lot more cooperation between our own species on this planet.An excerpt from a short story a wrote young L., back in COVID days, when she was quarantined:Over the days that followed “it,” both Ellery and Morepeth found themselves, without really thinking about it, without any intention, becoming —…