My story, my contribution to the endless collections of thoughts and theories in this world is that people are looked at with the wrong lenses.
We live in a world where we, and I do include myself, look at others with the: No excuses! Produce, be pleasing, don’t harm others OR good luck, good bye. Feelings don’t matter. They actually really don’t. Get it done or you’re out. I hate that I am like that myself.
When we look at a person do we see a person that at not asking to exist, was forced to adapt through reward and punishment to even be alive? Do we look at people as trying to keep up to what is “good, and normal” to avoid the negative label or diagnosis that immediately defines the unresponsive? Do you see how a person has to be “fun” to be around, entertaining for us, or we don’t even regard them? Do you see how everyone is used for the end of survival through submission. There is no way you will survive if you don’t nod your head to somebody and you didn’t even ask to be here.
So.....
Even though nothing will change. The conditions of being pleasing, productive, and harmless will always remain BUT we can look at people through a different lens that opens the door to empathy, even if from a distance, even if all that is accomplished is the avoidance of negative terms to define that person. Even if that’s all we can do, watch the words that we say, that is huge progress on our behalf.
