Did You See Me?

I was discussing a favourite play of mine with a friend the other day, and I recalled a part that's always stuck with me for some reason. One character questions another Did you see me, before I spoke to you? The other responds that of course he did, he passed by a few feet from her. No, insists the girl, I didn't say notice. Did you really see me? Would you have remembered me a minute later?

We do it every day, walking by or even talking to people without really seeing them. They leave no imprint on our minds or hearts and if we were to notice them again sometime later we wouldn't recognize them. Part of it is possibly a safety mechanism, preventing our minds from overloading, but a large part of it can be put down to carelessness and a self-centered M.O. Our thoughts are elsewhere and we don't care who or how they are, even though we ask them. They don't affect or infringe on our lives, so we conveniently exclude them from our knowledge of Existance. Life is too messy, our subconcious habits say, to concern yourself about anything that doesn't harm or help you. That's basic animal talk. We (especially we in 'comfortable' societies) should have moved beyond that long ago. But no, we remain in the old ditch, passively refusing to allow anyone outside of our sphere to become 'alive' to us. We lose much by this but more importantly others, who may need what only we are able to give, can lose their only chance of hope, love, or even redemption.