Lonesome Whispers On A Busy Black Friday

The sound of the city kept the sidewalks buzzing with a nearly indiscernible buzz. However, exclamations would ring out every so often. There would be the directions of a mother herding children, requests from beggars, and an assortment of other apparently mundane statements that can be overheard by the passerby populace. Most snippets of conversation lack context for the eavesdropper, but are plain enough that basic inference skills would suffice in filling in the lacking areas. Of all of the audible comments one stuck out to me as a particularly interesting case. It occurred when a woman walking by, within earshot, said, “I always have been an outcast and I always will be.” Upon hearing this my first reaction was an empathetic frown, and I think most people’s first reaction would be to attribute the statement as applying to the woman, which was my follow up reaction. This secondary reaction led me to question my primary reaction forcing myself to take a step back from the situation and consider other possibilities. Maybe this woman was talking about some other person who had been telling her this, or she had read it, or it was on a t.v. show. I also thought about how someone may assume that she was referring to herself because of the fact that she is mildly overweight (not obese). I remember many programs that focused on the anxiety and isolation that often accompanies and perpetuates being noticeably overweight. I thought about other reasons why someone would feel this way. Maybe she has some other oddity unobservable in my momentary evaluation. But really… do we have to be noticeably different to be an outcast? Can’t people be amongst other people, function day to day, and interact like a normal person but feel separated? I’m not a psychologist but I would imagine that this would be a symptom of depression. Many people are plagued by depression and it is addressed in a variety of manners. Most commercials I’ve seen have said that depression is due to a chemical imbalance in the brain. There are many anti-anxiety/anti-depression drugs on the market today, but in every case that I have observed of people on these drugs a zombie-like apathy or seemingly, faux excitement seemed to be the result. I feel like depression should be given more attention in our society because of its pervasive and often unknown presence. Many times people are around and possibly enabling persons with depression without even knowing it. Because of the nature of depression the afflicted are unlikely to discuss their struggle with other people when such interaction may be an important component of the condition’s improvement. Returning to the woman on the side walk, it is important to keep in mind that this woman was not talking to herself but walking with another woman, and obviously, if she was referring to herself, talking about feeling isolated. I know she said outcast and not isolated, but if to be an outcast is not to be isolated than one may find community with other outcasts similar to themselves. Hopefully everyone can find someone to connect with in such a large and often apparently ‘small small world.