Why do we turn a blind eye to what happens around us?

Anthon St. Maarten, an international psychic advisor, an inspirational speaker and an author, says, “Highly sensitive people are too often perceived as weaklings or damaged goods. To feel intensely is not a symptom of weakness, it is the trademark of the truly alive and compassionate. It is not the empath who is broken, it is society that has become dysfunctional and emotionally disabled. There is no shame in expressing your authentic feelings. Those who are at times described as being a ‘hot mess’ or having ‘too many issues’ are the very fabric of what keeps the dream alive for a more caring, humane world.”

The other day, as I was walking in a park I saw an elderly couple hitting at the thick stem of an old sycamore tree. They were hitting the tree with bricks, leaving bruises and deep cuts on its beautiful bark. I almost yelled at them for what they were doing. They replied, “The milk oozing from the stem is a medicine for our skin.” I retorted: “But you are damaging the skin of the tree to make your own skin healthy.” Meanwhile, some more people gathered. Realising they were doing something wrong, the husband and wife took to their heels.

Last week I was at a restaurant, and a lady entered and didn’t hold the door open for her daughter. The door hit the child on her forehead and she cried in pain. These two incidents may appear trivial, but they have a deep sense of insensitivity at their core. Isn’t insensitivity one of our biggest problems? A casual, insensitive, self-centred, ego-centric approach makes us turn a blind eye to what is happening around us. Now isn’t this the root of our personal, social and even national and international problems?