"Thanks for the moral support, bud."

The title of this post was the honest statement of a coworker who had to deal with a tough job while I was in the room.

I didn't help him in any way other than listening to him quietly, looking him in the eye when he spoke, and offering empathetic nods and nonverbal sounds of agreement.

I remain amazed how people trust, like, and feel comradery with me for just doing the above.

I don't want to believe these simple actions are so anomalous that people universally respond so positively to them. Maybe there's something else I'm missing.