No two people have ever met

“No two people have ever met.” Six words from Katie today that really sunk in. No matter what I do I will only ever see who I think you are; you will only ever see who you think you are, and the truth is both of us are wrong. Who would we be without our stories? Who would you be without mine? Who would I be without mine, and who would either of us be without yours? There is nothing to be but this now, and the moment I attempt to define it I have entered storyland, and the fiction begins.

The other line I really loved was, “You know what I like about separate bodies: when you hurt, I don’t.” Compassion and empathy are very different things. One would empower me, the other victimize. With one I see there is no problem and with that vision can guide you to the same place; with the other I experience what you do and help make it appear all the more real. Would I choose to continue the pain or alleviate it? The choice is clear, but the world would tell me different.