A World Full of Overlooked Hurt

“Suppose we were able to share meanings freely without a compulsive urge to impose our view or conform to those of others and without distortion and self-deception. Would this not constitute a real revolution in culture.”
~David Bohm

Smooth lips painted red.
Beautiful ocean blue eyes darkly underlined with black.
Her skin blemishless and soft.
Utter perfection… On the outside at least.

One single tear slid down her cheeks as she looked at her reflection in the cracked mirror. Her eyes focused on the bruises covering her hips from the evening before. Silently she slid into her tight clothing, black and lacy. She grasped an old wooden brush, a gift from her dead grandmother, and slid it through her wispy black hair. Her fingers grazed the scratched wooden table in front of her as she fumbled for a crimson bottle half buried among the other items carelessly arranged. She hated the sensual smell of the perfume and much preferred the scent of lilacs because it reminded her of her childhood, back when she had been carefree, her heart bubbling with refreshing innocence. She swatted the single tear away, afraid of smudging her carefully applied makeup.Before starting to stand up she took one last glance in the oval mirror and then let out a sigh of defeat. Finally she talked herself into standing up and walked gingerly across the creaky floor in her heels. She dreaded wearing those heels, her preference was bare feet. When she was young she would skip and frolic through the fields in the valley in which she lived. Those days had long since passed. They were now memories that the 24 year old girl thought of often. Wishing she could go back to the days before she was aware of the horrors and tragedy in this dark world…

Everyone has a story, everyone. The shallow and self-obsessed 19 year old that everyone writes off as a joke. The 42 year old man in front of you at the grocery store who fumbles for change to pay for groceries so he can feed his two sweet young girls. The older woman who is always working at the local gas station whenever you stop in for a pack of smokes. On a daily basis life connects individuals to countless other stories to play a part without even realizing it. Usually we are too wrapped up in our own daily lives to take time to contemplate how big of an impact we really are on an outstanding amount of strangers every day. How much different would the world be if instead of looking at others through eyes filtered with judgement, we looked through eyes filled with love? Eyes that understand the hurt others feel, and are willing to see what actually is in front of them, as opposed to what they want to see in others.

People are hurting and crying out for love more than ever before. Just log into Facebook and scroll through the news feed.  I guarantee that over one half of the posts will be from people who demand respect, feeling the need to publicly announce that they don’t deserve to be judged, a popular saying being, “You don’t know me.” Others take a slightly different approach, exuding false self confidence. At the end of the day, whether or not they admit it to others or even themselves, people like this are hurting; they don’t have everything together as much as they would like others to think. This is what starts the saddening cycle of judgement.

I read a very powerful story once which I would like to share:

A doctor entered the hospital in a hurry after being called in for an urgent surgery. He answered the call asap, changed his clothes and went directly to the surgery block. He found the boy’s father frantically pacing the hall waiting for the doctor. Once seeing him, the dad yelled:
“Why did you take all this time to come? Don’t you know that my son’s life is in danger? Don’t you have a sense of responsibility?”

The doctor smiled and said:
“I am sorry, I wasn’t in the hospital and I came the fastest I could after receiving the call…… And now, I wish you’d calm down so that I can do my work”

“Calm down?! What if your son was in this room right now, would you calm down? If your own son died now what would you do??” said the father angrily

The doctor smiled again and replied: “I will say what Job said in the Holy Book “From dust we came and to dust we return, blessed be the name of God”. Doctors cannot prolong lives. Go and intercede for your son, we will do our best by God’s grace.”

“Giving advice when you’re not concerned is so easy” Murmured the father.

The surgery took some hours after which the doctor emerged from the room happy,
“Thank goodness! Your son is saved!” And without waiting for the father’s reply he carried on his way running. “If you have any questions, ask the nurse!!”

“Why is he so arrogant? He couldn’t wait a few minutes so that I could ask about my son’s state” Commented the father when seeing the nurse minutes after the doctor left.

The nurse answered, tears streaming down her face: “His son died yesterday in a road accident, he was in the burial when we called him for your son’s surgery. And now that he saved your son’s life, he left running to finish his son’s burial.”

The first time that I read this story it gave me chills. I have no idea if this event truly took place, but the moral is every bit as powerful either way. Our lives are lived looking at everything from just our own perspective, never once even thinking about what is happening in others lives. I challenge you today to look at life from a different perspective. I challenge you to think from a different point of view before judging so quickly. It might change your own viewpoint as well, and open you up to many otherwise missed opportunities.