Yes! I wear leather gloves in the peak summer and I also wear shades when I work on the computer. No! I am not a psycho, or an attention seeker or some eccentric teenager. I have conditions that have not left me with a choice but to appear weird.
Mind you, I am not looking for sympathy from you. The last thing I want is for you to feel sorry for me.
I just want you to show me a little respect even though I seem strange to you. Trust me; I don’t do it for attention. The reason I had avoided the gloves for so long, was the attention factor. But I couldn’t take the pain anymore, and was forced to wear them before I collapse.
Venting over! Now let’s go back a little bit, shall we?
Each of us has a story. Our story determines how we behave majority of the times. I write this to tell you a part of my story. I was diagnosed with a seeming disorder called Lupus. This is an autoimmune disease where my immune system goes rogue and attacks me instead of protecting me. When you are diagnosed with one type of an autoimmune disease, you are very likely to invite a few more. So Lupus brought in a few friends, and they all loved me so much that they decided to stay and party. The problem that makes me turn into a smurf is one of the invitees, called Raynaud’s disorder. What happens is that my blood vessels go through spasms with a change in temperature or change in emotions and that stops my blood from flowing to my fingers and toes and they turn yellow, white and ultimately blue. I take the whole ‘colorful personality’ quite literally. I do admit that it is a scary sight for people who are unaware of the condition. It has caused panic amongst people I love many times. They have been scared for me, but never treated me like I was abnormal.
Back to now. As for you, my fellow human being; you are an educated man, a well-respected, well-travelled, well rounded and well-spoken man. You work in one of the best organizations in town, drive one of the best cars and live in the best localities of Dubai. So what is it that you lack? Why do you point at me and laugh? Or call me Michael Jackson coz of my gloves? Or openly call me a sick person? Why would you rather ridicule me, than try and understand me?
I just don’t get it. Would I also behave this way if I saw someone as weird as I appear to people? It’s a hypothetical question, but I seriously doubt it. One thing is for sure, that now on, I would never judge anyone as ‘weird’ no matter how they appear. I know most people do it unconsciously and I also know that I am extra sensitive and maybe that is the reason it bothers me so much. But tell me, who likes being addressed as sick? Or as someone who looks like she is going to die? No one!! So stop being a bully with a smart mouth young man!
My true feelings are to punch these people in the face and tell them to F off. And then quit my job and stay in my protected environment away from the cold people and cold offices. Hell!! I want to be healthy and normal again! J But these are not possible right now… So I write, vent, breath, call them names in my head and go back to my regular life.
Moral of the story… My dear friends, it is not difficult to accept people with all their weirdness. It’s actually very easy. Every time you meet someone new, give them a chance before you judge them; I mean go ahead and judge if you want to, but give them a chance first. Every single person you meet is an opportunity to learn something new and to grow. We all come with a story. And the story could be fascinating…I know mine is. J
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