Roses outside the parish priory
I was reading one of Nie Nie's recent posts, and it got me thinking.
Like her, meeting new people can make me nervous. There's a lot to explain. If I go out to eat with a good friend, they know my "I don't understand please translate" look I give when the waitress is talking. New people don't. My friends know that if I miss something or mishear it, that I didn't mean to do it, and they'll correct me and we'll move on. New people don't know these things.
New people also don't know why my arm is scarred up. Like Nie, I was burned--not nearly as badly, thank God. But, people ask about it. It's not "normal."
Some people think that "nice people" don't ask rude questions. They do.
I was asked to show someone my transplant scars in the middle of an office. They're underneath my breasts. Not happening.
I've been asked what happened to my arm when I'm buying moisturizer and toilet paper at Walgreen's. Recently, a checkout clerk asked me what happened to it as I was digging out my wallet.
"I was burned during surgery." That's all I wanted to say. People are not owed my whole story just because they're curious.
But this woman wouldn't stop. "What hospital was that at?"
I didn't answer. I slipped my card into the reader. Fortunately, by this point, there was a woman behind me. The employee continued chattering at me as I finished my transaction.
Why do people do this? Because they're curious? They probably don't mean to be rude, but they certainly didn't think before the words left their mouths.
I don't mind little kids asking me, because they really don't know better. Adults do.
You're not entitled to know everyone's story. My life and its intimacies aren't your personal fodder. It's like touching a pregnant woman's stomach. That's just wrong, man. It's not yours to touch.
I write here. I talk about my life. I want to do that. But that doesn't mean that when I'm buying toilet paper I want to go into the details of transplant and skin grafts with you. And honestly, people aren't owed that information.
People can be crazy rude. And it hammers home the point that, yes, my arm looks weird. But if you want to talk to someone you don't know, compliment them? Say they have great eyeliner or their shoes are a fun color or something. Don't say, hey, why is your arm funny? Why are you in the wheelchair? Why don't you have any hair?
I don't mind talking about it, but I don't like it being pointed out like it's some sort of freakish wonder. There's a difference.