'What can you do?'

My apologies. This was supposed to go out on Tuesday and, well, I botched it somehow. I hadn’t even finished the post, which was absolutely baffling to me. So, you get two today. This one for paid subscribers and the free one here in a bit. Again, I’m sorry.

From time to time, someone will share something with me, usually something that’s not particularly good news, and lacking anything more meaningful to say, I’ll turn my palms toward the sky and ask, “What can you do?”

It’s meant to be a simple acknowledgment of their struggle, an admission that I understand what they’re saying but can’t really do anything about it.

Earlier today, though, I was thinking about stuff in general and my use of those four words came up and I realized just how important they can actually be.