When you awaken and prepare for the day,
You bury the pain and dig out your façade,
Shielding your inner thoughts and feelings,
Protecting yourself from further harm.

Whether they are foreign or familiar,
Others around you threaten your façade,
Challenging you with harmful words,
Inconsiderate of your inner pain.

Even as your tormentors strike,
There’s something else you’re missing;
Your comfort and safety are crucially vital,
But so is that of everyone else.

They all need food and water,
They all need air to breathe,
They all have mothers and fathers,
They’re all living human beings.

What does this mean?
Stranger or no stranger,
They all feel pain too,
Just like you.

Some parents support them for life,
Some parents abandon them at birth;
Some parents cherish and are accepting,
Some parents batter and are scolding.

Some friends stay with them no matter what,
Some friends leave them at the drop of a hat;
Some friends protect them from threat in any form,
Some friends betray and harm for sadistic entertainment.

Some lives are full of comfort and happiness,
Some lives are full of bitterness and depression;
Some lives are carefully planned, healthy and well,
Some lives are, when at their brink, a true living hell.

So even if they, stranger or no stranger, really hurt you,
It may be because they themselves are suffering.
No one to help them, no one to understand,
Much like you could believe yourself to suffer.