A life lesson: "never judge a book"

by Mariana Marçal (Brazil)

I didn't expect to find New Zealand

It was in 2016, Picton, New Zealand. At my hostel there was a (handsome) boy who was walking with tremendous difficulty. He had a very serious locomotion problem and spoke with even more difficulty. But it was surprising to anyone who talked to him or paid attention to his conversations: he was a super traveled guy and seemed to love to exchange ideas. Unfortunately he reported sad things: how people have always despised him, thinking he was mentally handicapped and unable to have a normal life in spite of his physical condition, how people even made fun of him (thinking he didn't understand things - but he could understand everything!), telling stories about how hard it was to get a taxi because the drivers have never made any effort to understand what he says, how people didn't even like to approach... He said he was 25 years old and was from Melbourne (or Marlborough - something that any accent would make it really complicated). In the beginning you could really say it was impossible to understand anything, but with effort and good will you could interact with him. It would be pure prejudice, lack of humanity even. Detail: a guy who was more interesting than a man who finds himself interesting, for the simple fact that he travels - he had many stories to tell - and travels ON HIS OWN. He was in a tour group, but he had thrown himself on the world alone, facing all kinds of situations - and I mean big challenges, because he could barely communicate. He was free for the world, he did not exchange this freedom for anything and I could feel he still loved people and believed in them, no matter how badly he has been treated - he said that. I spent that day and many other ones reflecting: in the meantime, there are people who only go to the bathroom in pairs, who only go to the beach if there's a companion, who do not let go of someone, who are "afraid" to travel alone because they don't want to leave their comfort zone, who are shy because they are "afraid" of eventual/potential embarrassing situations, who have a forced "social phobia"... And meanwhile the human being (we) continues to judge by the cover, ignoring incredible people with great potential and also life stories. And my reflection remains.