“When the platform is free, you are the product.” 

Every time Nancy says something about the irrational or illogical responses that people make to posts on Facebook, I remind her of that truth. When seemingly random videos show up in my Instagram feed, I remind myself. 

The other day, though, I watched one of those videos and ended up with tears in my eyes. It wasn’t a cat video. I am not a cat person. I’m not a dog person either. It was a moment of people supporting other people in a setting where competition is the norm. 

I realized that I also end up with tears at the end of the NBC Saturday Evening News when José Diaz-Balart shares stories of people encouraging other people. 

I’m a cryer, of course, but not as much as I need to be these days. I’m getting mostly annoyed. But I’m also aware that moments of kindness, of empathy, of weeping with those who are weeping, of samaritans pouring oil and wine on the wounds of people (when other people think that they should pour salt in the wounds, or worse). Those moments matter. Not as a program, but as a choice that one person is making to care for and about another person. 

We hear about AI and algorithms these days, and we fret and we dread. I understand. 

But we can use our actual intelligence, both heads and hearts, and we can create a pattern of offering kindness. 

When Jesus suggested that the way that people who knew him would be recognized, he said it would be by their love. For each other. For their enemies. For the people who make irrational or illogical responses. 

So I’m looking for more reasons to cry the tears that show up when people care.