“What we are reluctant to touch often seems the very fabric of our salvation.”
–Don DeLillo
Who are you reluctant to contact or acknowledge? How might they be an agent of your salvation?
One thought on “What We Won’t Touch”
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“What we are reluctant to touch often seems the very fabric of our salvation.”
–Don DeLillo
Who are you reluctant to contact or acknowledge? How might they be an agent of your salvation?
Comments are closed.
There’s a guy at work towards whom I have very mixed feelings. He does things that, quite frankly, disgust me: not washing his hands after he’s used the bathroom, eating and drinking in such a way that it makes a mess and then not cleaning up after himself, picking his nose, grunting/moaning/clearing his throat frequently, not listening at meetings, etc. Except for not washing his hands, all these behaviors are quite harmless. They just get under my skin. One of the bosses yells at him every time he does something like this, and it doesn’t change his behavior much. He has gotten a bit better at washing his hands and usually gets a plate to eat now (just doesn’t eat over the plate so there are still crumbs all over the floor).
I think the boss is overreacting, especially since he knows that all of us (except for the bosses) are disabled by mental illness. No one else consistently acts like this, but its quite possible that this person’s illness makes it more difficult for him to follow social norms and may also make it more difficult for him to deal with the explosions. I’m just guessing: I don’t know what his actual diagnosis is, but I do know that some illnesses have symptoms like that. Still, I rarely intervene. Too scared, I guess.
This person is also one of the friendliest. He wants to shake hands with everyone. I refuse to do it, though. I don’t want to make physical contact with hands that aren’t washed. While I think that’s an okay boundary to have, I could be friendlier toward him. I could try to initiate actual conversations rather than just reminding him to follow social norms. When I do do that, I could do it in a friendlier manner.
I don’t know if he could be an agent for my salvation. Treating him better may help me feel better about myself, I guess. Aside from that, I don’t know how he could heal me.