These days? It’s the hush around small betrayals. The way people look away when someone’s benefits are cut for being a day late with a form. The silent shrug when a neighbour’s flat is boarded up because they couldn’t pay rent.
What bothers me is how normal it’s all become.
How the supermarket at 10 p.m. is full of people making tough choices in fluorescent light, pretending they’re not crying in the freezer aisle. The way we all avert our gaze, even me. Especially me.
It bothers me that I’m not sure what else to do. That my own worry for tomorrow makes me careful, polite, complicit. I’m old enough now to feel it in my knees, to know it’s easier to sit than stand. Easier to change the subject.
But I keep noticing. Even when it would be kinder to stop.
Because I think if no one notices, if no one says this is cruel, then the cruelty wins.
And that bothers me most of all.
What Bothers Me and Why
Published
A Fool's Handbook 
Bearing witness is a service we can give others. It’s a real service. That you don’t look away, is great instinct and enough.
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