Wearing the symbol of your love of Irish pride is usually rather obvious. What about things that aren’t easily seen by the naked eye?
When you see someone walking down the street, it is usually easy to size them up rather quick-like. Depending on who you are, you may walk into a store and see other people around. You might notice their clothing or their age first. You might notice if they have children or if they are walking fast or slow. Sometimes, there are those of us who look for a vibe or feeling when we see someone strange. We wonder if they are safe or not.
This is the round-them-up, size-them-up kind-of-thing that we frequently do with other people when out in the general public. Often, many times, we stop short of how they look or appear on the outside. It is so easy to assume that someone is healthy or not based on how they are dressed or how they look. It is easy to discount that they might be suffering or having a really tough time because on the outside, they look grand.
We humans do this. It makes our lives simpler. We formulate rules in our minds and we convince ourselves that even though we might be incorrect every so often, we learn to rely on these things as a general note. We believe that most of the time, they will prove to be right.
I cannot think of any one example that
dupes this entire thinking system that we have then when we consider the lives of the chronically ill. Right now, there is a woman in Ireland who has a disease that is clumped into a category of invisible. Seanin Smith is a twenty-three year old who is battling Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Even though she looks lovely and healthy on the outside, the inside of her body could tell a different tale.
Her current plight involves a desire to go to the U.S. for treatments for this debilitating disease. Because of her limitations, she would have to take a boat to the states. She cannot even board an airplane.
This disease is like others out there. We may not always be able to see visible symptoms of it, although many people suffer in silence. I think it is important as you never know what is going on inside someone’s body and it is easy to make a quick judgment or assumption. However, even if it takes one millisecond longer to take a good look at someone, it seems like it would be worth it to make the right call.
There is a difference between someone who appears distasteful with no great reason to behave that way and someone who is struggling with something we cannot see. They may be doing their best and some people might call that unpleasant. However, once you know what’s really going on inside of a individual, it is easier to see that what might appear to be one thing on the outside, is actually the very best that person can do considering all the factors on the inside.
