THE HUMANITY HANG-UP

I once met a man named Eric, who joined a privileged club that few gain access to. This man was a hero, but yet I respected him. I met him late one night when I was without my mask. He didn’t know me from Adam, yet he spoke to me as if we’d been friends since the day we were born.

He told me his story.

He started with how his father was a proud soldier in the army and had been killed in service on what should have been a routine mission that sadly went wrong. Eric was only 10, and had to grow up without a father. His mother fell into a deep depression, only kept going by Eric. As soon as he was old enough Eric joined up to the forces to honour his late father, and once he had passed out he was deployed in Syria.

On a rescue mission he became separated from his squadron, and part of a building hit by an airstrike toppled over, trapping him, leaving him fearing for his life. He doesn’t remember much until he woke up in the hospital.

He looked around to see sadness in the eyes of those surrounding him, but he didn’t understand why at first.

Then suddenly he knew.

He couldn’t move his arms. He couldn’t move his legs. The building collapse had left him quadriplegic.

I told him I was sorry, and he asked me why. I didn’t know him before that night, why was I sorry? I told him I didn’t know what he meant, and he replied with this.

People looked at him with new eyes when he returned home. He was treated in a different way than he had been before. People looked at him now with a sense of pity if he was lucky. Sometimes they abused him and called him a cripple.

Eric told me something that night that I will never forget. He said even though he couldn’t move anything from his chest down, he didn’t feel like the disabled one. He looked around and saw that the lack of humanity in those around him was a lot more debilitating than his predicament ever would be. And then I understood.

And I vowed I would always keep my humanity, no matter what.

That is what separates us Wolfgang. You want to change the world just like I do. You want the world to march to the beat of your drum, but you have lost your humanity. You have forgotten how to feel, leaving your sense of empathy in the dirt, curb-stomped into non-existence.

What is the point in changing the world if the outcome is that those who are left do not feel anything? The world has so much potential, and that is down to the people who live in it. Their sense of mortality and civility. As much as people will draw parallels between us, Wolfgang, know that I am not like you.

You look at the world and see the worst in people. I look and see what could be brilliant if only they understood.