How can you?

Question

"How can you spare someone's feelings by denying them?"

A quote from Tuesdays With Morrie. What does that quote mean to you?

Answer 1

Denying the feelings a person has allows them to look the other way about it or to ignore them for awhile.  You can spare someone their feelings by not forcing them to look at their feelings.  

If this quote was a statement "you can spare someone's feelings by denying them." Then it means:

If someone is depressed about losing a loved one, and instead of sulking/crying go out and tell jokes/stories instead - you do not have to say to them "I know you are depressed and want to cry but you hide behind the laughter"  Instead, you can deny the feelings too and spare the person the dread of having to acknowledge their pain.

However, the real way to get through emotions is to acknowledge them - honor them by expressing them and then moving on.  If this quote is a question, then it questions why you would allow someone to suffer eternally without allowing them to change, grow and move on.