At the bottom of a pit, a person is stranded, ropeless, and alone. The pit is dark, damp, and lonely. They try calling out for help, but they are unheard. Their suffering is unseen. Who is this person?
They are everyone.
Every action, movement, and spoken word reveals a hidden truth. No action is taken without meaning or motive. Even an action as small as a readjustment in a chair is taken for comfort. Though made instinctively, the response to scream or hide is not taken arbitrarily, but in response to a threat. The person in the pit calls out for help because he is in need. Yet we fail to see the countless cries for help around us, in our daily lives, with friends, and with peers.
What we fail to see is not the wind, emotions, or time, but rather the actions of others. We fail to see the person in the pit, grasping for help to no avail. We may fail to see the tapping of legs or fingers of an anxious person, attempting to climb out of their pit, or the hidden repeated actions of OCD, but they exist. A person in physical pain will cry out. Why would a person in emotional pain fail to?
A lonely person will reach out to other people. They will long for a social connection, but are refused countless times. They long for a friendship or a moment that signals that they are not alone. And yet, they are often ignored. They may call out for help, but nobody hears them. Nobody listens. We see them as clingy or impossibly dependent for wanting nothing more than assurance that they were not in solitude. Their pain is invisible, unseen, and futile. The person in the pit looks for a way to escape, but is denied every possible exit. The person in the pit goes unnoticed.
If a person seems to be seeking praise or validation, their true actions are misunderstood. Perhaps, if we were to look closely enough, we would see them at the bottom of their pit. Perhaps they lack the self-confidence or the positive outlook on their character that they need; the compliments and praise they seek are a rope, leading them to escape and freedom. They need to be complimented and supported, and we turn them down. They may cry out for help, yet we find them annoying, self-centered, and self-absorbed. The action is typically regarded with disdain, but if an injured person called out for help, it would be unwise to ignore them. The person in the pit needs liberating, and we block their escape.
Why then, if the pit is everywhere, do we fail to see it? Perhaps, the answer lies in the shared identity of the person in the pit. We are blinded by our enclosure. We call out for help ourselves and are distracted by our own misfortunes, minor losses, and perspective. The person in the pit fails to see anything else besides the dark, damp, lonely pit. He fails to see actions outside of his own.
Every action, movement, and spoken word reveals a hidden truth. That truth may be the help that a person deserves. Helping another out of their desolate, disconnected world helps everyone. Once one person conquers the pit, others will follow naturally. Help inspires help. If the person in the pit struggles forever, a disconnect from others is created. Finding the truth in a person’s experience allows an individual to be seen and connected. As a society, though, we do not often see their truth or their pain. But we can. We merely must look for it. Everyone, in some way, is calling out for help if we are willing to look closely enough to find it.
