Lesson in empathy

The current US elections have absolutely got my blood boiling.  I'm a very passionate fan of politics, probably to my own detriment. However it's something that I'm interested in and will continue to be interested in.  It's no secret that I'm not a Trump fan.  In my personal opinion he's a dangerous autocrat with narcassism at his core.  

I have friends both in Canada and the US that are also extremely passionate about the President and the current state of the US elections.  

Recently I let my ego get the best of me.  I started to "poke" one of my good US friends as I started to see the shift toward Biden yesterday.  What I didn't realize and failed to contemplate was how deeply emotional this election is to him. He's a American, served with distinction in Afghanistan with the US military.  I'm a Canadian who never served in the military.  What I realized is that I had zero empathy.  What I had was my anger toward Trump and his character that blinded me to the empathy that I should have shown to my friend.  

I'm a little ashamed in myself.  I'm ashamed because I know better, I've become better than this.  Our friendship is still strong and I took the time to apologize to him.  Life to me is about learning and growing. I learnt a little bit more about myself.  Empathy is something that I can't just use when it suits me. It's not something that I should push aside when it doesn't suit either.  I have to be mindful more often and that one sentence helps bring it back to the moment, "where am and what am I doing?".