There was a man on the subway today with his face completely burnt. As I made my way onto the subway my eyes caught him briefly, and I looked away. I looked away because it’s rude to stare. I looked away because I was scared to look. I’ve been born with the disability of empathy so severe that sometimes when I watch shows or movies I’ll change the channel or look away because I know what’s about to happen. It’s because in an instant: I can see myself or someone I care about in that situation, and I can feel the pain, and humiliation. That’s exactly what I felt for this man. As I looked around I noticed that people had no qualms about staring at him, and making disgusted faces. I noticed groups of people leaning over to whisper to their friends with no attempt to be subtle. I started fuming WTF. Has he not been through enough to be subjected to this crap? For 6 subway stops it was a continuous barrage.
Like most stories this one has a silver lining. Wrapped around his clenched pensive fist was the hand of his wife’s (I assume). While these people were trying to make a spectacle of him; she kept things jovial and tried to bring some normalcy to the situation. Hawthorne effect need not apply!
Can you imagine toll of being burned? The pain itself would be pretty hard to fathom let alone being physically scarred. How drastically would your life change? Friends? BF or GF? It’s more than most people can handle. We can’t all be strong, all the time and it would be such a luxurious gift to have people who will be there to pick up the slack with no hesitation, and face social ostracization with chin-up like this amazingly beautiful woman. He may have been burnt but, he’s one lucky guy.
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