I heard David Brooks, an American social commentator and a writer talk about what he described as, a “pandemic of blindness”, which apparently meant that people didn’t feel “seen”. Surely this bloke had his metaphor around the wrong way. It’s not that people/we aren’t seeing or indeed noticing people but that they weren’t feeling being heard or noticed.
Clearly in America there is a concern over social fragmentation and conflict. And maybe here too.
But on consideration maybe Mr Brooks is right. We all have an obligation to really see and hear other people. We need to do the seeing and hearing, reach out. Rotary does of course reach out to lots of different people and hopefully people feel heard.
And then, all of a sudden I heard this stanza from a poem called “when in Doubt”
“When in doubt, forgive our myopia
As we forgive those who are myopic against us”
[from the poem When In Doubt by Sandra Cisneros]
For the gift of seeing and hearing others I give thanks.
Thank you Philip Cornish.
