July 18, 2004

Sensitive people see what is invisible to other human beings, such as the leap of a child’s heart on noticing the fast approaching dark clouds laden with rain

I WOULD like to request you to let me have some of your precious moments. I am fully cognizant of the fact that they — the people with insensitive nature — are the ones in majority. This is how it has been since time immemorial. A lot of insensitive people have dominated the world ever since dinosaurs left the stage. And may I add that you (people) have always had the best of the riches that this world has to offer. My plea and aim is only to convince you to permit the sensitive ones to live an undisturbed life of dignity.

I am not suggesting for a moment that sensitive people are physically assaulted by the insensitive ones. Both have co-existed since the very beginning, but one cannot deny a stark impertinence, loathing and disdain exhibited by the insensitive section towards this lot.

While you may not have given a thought to this, the basic classification of humans is not on the basis of sex or have or have-nots. The primary demarcation is between sensitive and insensitive people (I am no expert on animals but I have a sneaky suspicion that the same regime exists amongst them.) Being male or female is basically the physical side of it. Being rich or poor is again the material side. Once we engage in deeper than skin analysis, we find that being sensitive is like being in a class of its own, more distinctive than any other.

Sensitive people exist partially in the physical world while the rest of their being is present in the virtual world of their imagination. That is why they experience the world differently. They see what is invisible to you such as the sense of insecurity on the countenance of a woman on a bus or the leap of a child’s heart on noticing the fast approaching dark clouds laden with rain. You demand of them to be attentive, practical, efficient, talkative and status-conscious, just like the rest of you, just like a normal human being, just like Darwin’s veritable model of natural selection. These are trivial things to them, but in your ‘operating system’ these tantamount to a serious breach of the acceptable code of conduct. When they fail to meet this basic criteria, the incessant abuse starts, by an insensitive parent towards his sensitive child, by an insensitive wife towards his sensitive spouse, etc.

They are not fit for the world as defined by you. They grossly violate the by-laws and regulations that define who is a superior and successful human being and who is a failure. (I never meant to write an apology for the sensitive but that is exactly what it is turning out to be.) They (the sensitive people) do not wear clothes to make fashion statements, do not care much which car they are driving, which locality they are living in, what complexions the skin of their wives are or what is the social status of their fathers-in- law is. They revel in the world filled with what you call imperfections. They will find beauty in a blind man, in a dilapidated building, in an acid-stricken face of a Pakistani woman hailing from the poor class. They get inspired by and will weave tales about the boy who sells peanuts outside your office or the octogenarian forgotten by the angel of death that you find sleeping on the footpath (which is his death bed) everyday with only a torn blanket and a hope of swift death to wrap him, with no son or daughter to nurse him.

These artists, writers, painters and poets that appear useless, worthless and at times filthy are people with a high degree of sensitivity. They are the rejected lot for which the system has little room. They cannot become what you want them to be. A DOC file cannot play music like an MP3 file. They cannot follow a path determined by others which may lead to monetary rewards but will certainly kill their soul in the process.

They are fragile. A stray clump of harsh words can reside in their mind for a lifetime taking shapes of the demons that they are so prolific at producing. They are already tortured souls having the pain of the world on their shoulders. Do not scatter on their paths, sharp, glass-like coarse words spoken about their odd personality, impracticality and perceived laziness. If you cannot find time to review their creations, at least do not castigate them.

They are the perfect imperfects in your world. What is inspiring to you is disgusting to them and what motivates you is loathed by them. Hence your arrogance can be explained.

The point is that they do not want to disturb your opulent lifestyle. They are no threat to you. They just have this great desire to create not generate, to pluck delicate things out from the garden of life for you to see which you miss due to your occupations, to tell the world that laughter and ecstasy need to recognize and accept their co-existence with anguish and pain for them to permeate your soul.

Please accept them as they are and they will be happy. They do not want to partake of the wealth the world has to offer but just the share of their oxygen. Nothing more.

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