I’m in pain. Terrible, terrible pain. It is however one that I can’t express. Everything feels bland and bleak somehow. I have nightmares almost every day. I feel like writing but when I sit down to do it all inspiration leaves me and I can’t write whatever may be the topic I’m writing on including my feelings. Shouldn’t I be able to at least write about them?

The aforementioned words describe a person’s pain and their thoughts about it. Pain is a funny thing in a way. It can connect or dissociate people in a matter of seconds like some two-edged sword. In my observations of the world, I have seen three kinds of people

1. Those who understand your pain because they have faced similar circumstances
2. Those who don’t pass judgment on you and your experiences irrespective of whether they understand your pain
3. Those who ignorantly pass judgment on your experiences without understanding the pain you are feeling.

The third kind is the worst in my opinion. People are however quick to think of themselves as empathetic and act like they understand your pain but that’s it. They don’t really because in our world people hear you and not listen, not to understand but to come up with replies/counter statements to your message. The recent surge of mental health issues should be considered as a warning to change this behavioral pattern of ours. This isn’t and was never healthy. Listening is a great kindness these days. Passing judgment however is being considered more of a toxic trait with every passing day. Any form of judgment, discrimination, or prejudice isn’t healthy and greatly harms your mind as well as of those around you. It’s funny how people assume to understand your pain without ever actually listening to you. Making assumptions can even cause you to cost a life. These days everyone claims to have remedies for maladies of the mind and psyche. But if only these self-proclaimed psychiatrists would have listened to what the person in front of them is sharing with them, they wouldn’t be facing the problem in the first place. What we need is to stop assuming and criticizing and start listening to stop this psychological pandemic strangling our youth.