How Quickly When You Take Away the Human Touch, Does Empathy Disappear?

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I felt inspired to write a poem. This is fictitious, and not a real person, but it could very well relate to someone you encounter.

We never know what is behind someones actions, or how much pain or suffering they have endured. Let’s open our hearts to our fellow humans, at a time when we are robbed of the Human Touch. We need to keep loving each other. We are in this together. Lets not forget.

How Quickly When You Take Away the Human Touch Does Empathy Disappear?

You see me walking on the street, while you are locked inside;

I feel your eyes burn into me, as I walk on by.

You see me as your enemy because I bring you fear;

I might have the virus and hurt someone you hold dear.

I hear your cries of anguish, as I pass you by,

“You don’t care that my child is weak, my mum is frail, or that I may live or die”

This disease has got to you; it’s got into your mind.

It came while you were sleeping, and now its robbed you blind.

It’s made the very world seem as though they might attack,

As now you fear anyone who will not step back.

Is this the death of affection; the end of our human connection?

No more family gatherings or picnics in the park?

No helping someone cross the road or holding hands as it gets dark?

What about the healers, who place their hands on you?

Or will the virus make you afraid of their touch too?

Can we still congratulate by patting someone on the back?

Or will the human touch become perceived as an attack?

How can it have changed the way you feel almost overnight?

Because you fear the ones you love could end up in this plight?

I wish I had someone who feared the loss of me; someone who cared if I’m living or dying; someone who heard me when I sat alone crying.

I stepped outside to escape my demons, the monsters that live inside my head, the ones that lurk under every child’s bed.

You see my fear is as real as yours, but when you see me you cant see that, because your own fear has stopped your empathy, for everything that isn’t in your sphere.

How quickly when you take away the human touch, does empathy disappear?

L.A. Ereira