{Cover image by Pixel Rich on Unsplash}

“Why are our tissues yellow?” I ask Joe. He doesn’t really answer, which doesn’t really bother me. I ask a lot of questions.

They were white when we bought them. I swear. Weren’t they?

A collage of old, blurry memories coagulates in my mind. I’ve seen yellow tissues before. In old ladies’ houses, typically in a plastic-canvas tissue box stitched with crafting yarn, where I assume the same box of tissues has been sitting on that side table since 1985. In smokers’ houses, where I assume the yellowing of the tissue was due to copious amounts of nicotine and tar floating around the air.

But … what are yellow tissues doing in my house?

Long story short, I finally realize that the tissue company intentionally puts yellow (or otherwise darker-toned) tissues toward the bottom of the box, to let you know that you’re running low. I have no idea how it’s taken me this long to realize it.

But isn’t that a genius move?

And wouldn’t it be even more genius if people came with a yellow-tissue-type indicator, to tell you that they’re running low? Think of the possibilities!

• Your husband could come home and see the little yellow bulb over your head and know it’s not a good time to ask if he can skip the weekend at your parents’ to go play golf with his buddies.

• You could notice the yellow highlight around your best friend’s name in your phone and know it’s a good time to check in and see how she’s doing.

• You and your partner could both notice the yellow bulbs over each of your heads and, at that moment, decide that popcorn is a good-enough dinner for tonight.

Our tendency is to think that everyone we encounter has a freshly opened tissue box’s worth of energy, patience, etc. It’s the “ideal,” after all, isn’t it?

But what if we didn’t assume this about the people we talk to every day? What if, instead, we took a moment to examine the tissue box a little more closely, to perhaps pick it up to gauge the volume of its contents, and certainly — at the very least — to observe whether the tissues are yellow.

It would give us a beautiful opportunity to provide grace or kindness or support to someone who really needs it at that moment. It would give us a chance to open a fresh box of tissues for them.

I’d like to have that chance.