Behind the Stranger
In our society today, we are pressured to be by ourselves and the ones we know. At school, I was told to never talk to anyone new and to just leave them alone. But through every unknown stranger is an unknown story waiting and wanting to be told to someone who would listen. And this is where my story truly begins.
It was a pretty much a normal day at my high school. I was walking out of my class, late to lunch and by that time, everyone left their classes already. I was walking through the hallways alone, hearing the sounds of my own footsteps as I walked outside, but from the corner of my eye, I saw him. Him, a boy about my age sitting alone at lunch, to most people a complete stranger. I would see him every day being by himself, alone. When I walked with my friends I would always see him, but even my friends would never notice him. My heart would always wrench with guilt whenever I walk past him, so I decided to do what most students would advise me not to do. I stopped and talked to him. "Hey, what's up?", I said. That was pretty awkward, but he turned to me and I could see him clearly for the first time. He had a round face with overgrown hair that didn't suit him and wore glasses that were old, yellow and wrapped up with tape. He was also wearing an old polo shirt on with cargo pants along with old, beaten up shoes that looked as if they were the only ones he had. His eyes were gloomy and tired and his hands were scarred and withered. The boy's eyes started to well up with tears and he looked back not saying a word. I asked,"Hey are you ok?" He didn't look okay. Something was bothering him and without a warning, let go of everything he was hiding inside. He started to cry. But he wasn't crying tears of anger, he was crying tears of pain he couldn't keep inside for much longer. That's when he blurted out everything to me.
He told me about how he was lonely for so long and how he was being bullied. He told me about his suicide attempts and how he always failed. He told me about his family and that his mother died giving birth to his brother. He told me about his disabled father having no job and him being the one taking care of his father. He told me about his special needs brother who also needs his help. And he told me that he appreciate me listening to his story and how it changed his life.
I was shocked. I never expected something like this to happen. When you look at a stranger, you don't think much about them. In life, you may never know enough about the person sitting next to you in class or the new co-worker who sits by herself or maybe it's just because you don't want to know. Maybe you don't want to know that your new co-worker is a single mom working three jobs every day to feed her children. Or maybe you don't want to know that your classmate's father is serving in another country. Maybe you don't want to read this because you don't want to look weird by talking to strangers and you don't want to make a small difference. But for those who want to make a difference in this world, just know that there's more behind people than there is upfront.