I find myself to be somewhat of a kind hearted person. Yet when friends vent to me or start crying in front of me I have a huge urge to crack a joke or start laughing. I cannot explain to you how bad I feel about having to contain my smile while someone I know is crying in front of me. At times I'm able to sympathise with the person, and in my mind I'll probably be sad. But I've had a bad habit of struggling to contain my smile in serious situations since I've been a little kid, and this just takes the cake man. I simply do not know how to act around this sort of people.
When I see the struggles of other people on this subreddit, I want to feel bad for them, I want to reach out. When I see this in person, I really want to hug them and assure them everything is gonna be alright. Yet all I can think about is dread cause I realise it might as well be me in a couple of years. Is this all there truly is to life? Can't help but think about that when reading or beholding these. Cause I don't know their life. I don't know what got them into this situation. I don't know if it really does get better, at this point I highly doubt it. And I really don't know whether this person needs to be sweet talked to or not. Besides, what can I really tell them that they haven't already heard? "It gets better man!" noone knows that. "Pick yourself up man, I believe in you!" seems to be a no go and disrespectful. "I don't quite understand what you're going through but if you need help I'm there." if you can't understand me, then how can you help me? Not everyone is comfortable with physical touch so I don't know how they'll take a hug. Whatever I say comes off as awkward and contrived.
And I feel selfish cause of this. What does it mean to be a good human being?