Humanity can't really live, thrive or be alone and if you don't believe me then tell me how one person alone can thrive. One life is just one life and you can't really create another human by yourself, the very nature of who we are is expressed in community. A man alone can survive but after that he dies, but if together then they can thrive and even create a community out of them, so we need each other even if we hate each other.
I wake up and find that my hands have been replaced, oddly enough it doesn't feel out of place.
Jagged sharp edges and a smooth curve but I wonder what purpose these new hands serve.
I go out to look around and I feel the crooked headed stares accompanied by disgusted glares at the state of my hands
Hands now tucked tightly in my pockets I dodge into an alley to gather my thoughts and all too soon a silhouette slithers from the shadows
A pleasant smile with a piercing gaze, smooth words flow from his lips that lull me to listen with an innocent faith
"Don't worry" he says "I can help you hide those jagged edges, take these gloves and you can fit in with the best of them"
Without hesitation I take the gloves and in moment the man was gone, I put on the gloves and walk out with pride.
No longer held down by disapproving stares and a distant tolerance, instead I am welcomed by crisp high fives and warmly tightened hugs
But as I look around I find that many hands are hidden by gloves.
Curiously I ask about the gloves but they avert their gaze and nervously shift in their seat shamefully silent and I wonder why.
I find a man in the park setting up his bed before it gets dark and I see he is also wearing gloves like me, I carefully approach hoping that he won't scare like the rest of them.
Silently he invited me to sit with him and he told me stories of his life sharing intimate thoughts of the past
By the end of his stories I asked "what's under your gloves?" and with a smile he took them off and said "my hands are smooth with ridges and I always hid them "
But to me our hands look the same, I removed my gloves and the missing pieces of my hands filled his and we went into town without fear
Finding that everyone was hiding what we all needed and that was a small piece of you that fits in me and a small piece of me that fits in you
