In many ways, the idea of invisibility is completely underestimated. Many times it is considered to simply not be seen, to be unable to be seen. To make the choice to be hidden, disguised, in a way that no one else can see you. The basic definition of it even is "impossible to see". And yet, there is so much more to it. For someone to be invisible, it is not always their choice, their desire. It can be forced upon them, that others ignore them so much that they forget the person is even there, even exists. We are all guilty of it too. Sometimes it is intentional, sometimes it is not. I know we've all been walking or driving and seen that person, and instead of even a smile, we simply lower our head, look away, and just pretend we did not even notice them.
Other times, we really don't. We get so caught up in ourselves, in our lives, and we completely forget to acknowledge that there is life outside our own bubble. This is something that I completely despise, because I was surrounded by it at my high school. The groups and clicks were formed early, and after that, it was a rare thing for a new person to be allowed in. Those who were not in that group simply did not matter, did not exist unless there was a reason, and once that was gone, they disappeared with it. I have always hated that about my high school, and then tonight as I was talking to someone who went to the school with me, I realized I was guilty of doing just that myself. As I was talking to her I realized that multiple times in my last year at the school I had the chance to talk to her, get to know her, and yet I didn't. I wimped out, and just figured someone else would talk to the new girl, I don't have to. She's probably fine on her own. Realizing now that I did that to someone else, I truly feel horrible and ashamed of myself. I've been there and I know what it is like to feel invisible, to the point that no one else sees me, and yet here I inflicted that on someone else? Disgusting.
I feel this is something that is really convicting to me, who are we not seeing? If someone being invisible means they're impossible to see, who made them that way? Did they inflict this on themselves, or is it something that they have just accepted, something that was forced on them? Either way, what can I do to change it? I want to see these people, to not let them feel ignored and forced out like we all have felt at one time or another. We can all understand that feeling of being overlooked and I know that I never want to be the cause of that again. Instead of ignoring people, I want to step and step out, reach out to them and be a reminder that there is such a thing as a stranger who cares. No one should ever have to feel invisible, not when we are all looking right at them...
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Dang, nice last sentence man! I completely understand you, and I think it's funny that this happens. It seems to be the same in all high school's. We are completely oblivious to people but I do think that you might have been a little too dramatic in making your point. I can tell you why with just one simple sentence. We are, as humans, naturally selfish. So no matter what this is probably going to happen. Even if you focused all of your energy into it, there are still way too many people on this planet to be helping all by yourself. Now, I'm not trying to be pessimistic or rain on anyone's parade, I just don't want you to feel disgusted at yourself. There is absolutely no need for that. It seemed as though you admitting that about yourself was as bad as people being invisible. God is our only answer to this. We don't need to blame ourselves, just be all we can be and do all we can do in the likeness of our Lord. I like how you analyzed this though. As in your other blogs you've obviously showed me that you are not afraid of exposing yourself. I applaud you for that man. This helps me understand how you feel about the subject at hand. Having heard your story a little, mixed in with your thoughts gives a pretty good response rather than just hearing your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI wrote about the same thing that you had written about. But more so on how people can be invisible to us. I really enjoyed reading your blog though. Its interesting how so many people can write about the very same things and have different perspectives on it. I see what you mean when you said how we can be so caught up in ourselves and forget about those that are around us. That is something that really isn’t that hard to do. Those were some good questions that you posed. Like what causes the invisible ones to be invisible. Is it there own choice or is it something that we ourselves might have done to cause them to be that way. It really is something to think about. But from your closing statements I gathered that it is not impossible to remedy these problems. There is so much that we can do to make a difference in their lives and in our own. It’s good that you see the importance of helping people not to feel invisible anymore. From doing this blog, it helped me to feel the same way too. I also want to help and get to know the invisible.
ReplyDeleteI love your last sentence here! That was a perfect way to conclude this blog. And I agree with you on how horrible it is to feel invisible to other people and then turning around and doing the same thing to someone else. You would think we would learn from experiencing these horrible moments, but we get so caught up in finally fitting in and, like you said, we just assume that the guy or girl next to us will talk to them so we lift that feeling of obligation off of us. And that is why I feel that cliques are the worst thing to get so caught up in. I think that’s why the encouragement for high school students to get involved with various different activities is so strong; it helps to reduce kids feeling unwanted. And let’s face it: high school is getting to be the most unfriendly environment to be in mostly due to cliques already formed due to academic standing. We all know that incoming freshmen are always looked down on before they even get the chance to get to know them. And I feel exactly the same way as you do, looking back I feel horrible for neglecting to get to know new people because it’s very possible that I missed out on another great friendship in neglecting to do so.
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