There’s the suffering I have. There are complications too. Then there is the suffering of people who I feel are like me and are going through what I am going through. But the truth is, for some people, they are going through something very different from me, even if they are going through something similar. Where do these similarities and differences begin and end? I think they begin in preschool. They begin when I was first taught to see similarities and differences. They developed into comparisons. They developed from there into accounting, judgment, valuation. They continue today directly from there.
Who I am to assume I know the story of anyone? To think that I know something about someone because I see similarities is more complicated than it sounds. So when I listen to stories about people I think are just like me and find myself frightened, I should remember it was my initial perception that led to the shock of seeing difference where I assumed there would be less. And I should not be surprised to be wrong every time I bring those comparison tools with me and engage them.
Every story I don’t know. Honestly, even if my habit doesn’t lead me there, it’s true.
