When I was a teenager, I remember I was applying at the Taco Bell located on Austin Bluffs & Academy where my sister worked. (I never got the job which was probably for the best!).
As I sat in the lobby, I noticed another boy about my age filling out an application as well. He had gave some paperwork to one of the workers and was sitting at a table, waiting for them to return. As he waited, I noticed something off about his attitude.

He seemed incredibly sad.

I don't think I had ever seen someone with such a deep sadness in their eyes. He sat in the lobby looking out the window, waiting for the worker to return. But he almost seemed to be in a different world.

As I observed his attitude, a small voice told me "Isaac, go have a conversation with him".

I remember an immediate feeling of awkwardness. "Why the heck would I talk to a random dude who I don't know??" Still, the small voice kept telling me "go have a conversation with him." I kept wrestling with the thought and coming up with excuses to not talk to him. I stalled until finally, much to my relief, the worker came back with the paperwork and he left. My sister (who worked there) told me later that evening that he had gotten the job. Him and I were the only ones who had applied that day, so when I told her about "sad" kid, she knew the kid I was talking about.

A couple of weeks later, my sister came home from her shift at taco Bell. She seemed more down than usual. I was in the living room when she came home. As she settled in for the evening, she asked me, "do you remember that guy we hired a couple of weeks ago? The 'sad' kid you told me about"? I responded with "Yeah, why?".
"He didn't show up for his shift today. He committed suicide."

I was shocked. Immediately I regretted not listening to that voice in my head. I don't know what this kid was going through. I don't know what we would have talked about. Even if I had talked to him, if he had been depressed there's a possibility he may have went through with killing himself anyway. Maybe my efforts wouldn't have made an impact on him at all.

Maybe.

I don't know what he needed in that moment. But I could have given him the gift of being "seen". All these years later I still think about that moment when I was sitting in that Taco Bell lobby, watching him gaze out the window. Who knows what he was thinking.

When I hear little voices like that, I try to listen. I don't know why I'm being prompted to step out of my bubble and talk to some people. But I know one thing - I try having the conversation I never had with as many people as I can.