FEELINGS IN MADNESS...a Journey In Song

Highly sensitive people

(An essay I had to do for my English class and the video is what prompted me)

Highly sensitive people are too often perceived as weak or damaged goods. To feel so intensely about something is not a symptom of weakness, it is the trademark of the truly alive and compassionate. It isn't the empath is broken, it is the society that has become dysfunctional and emotionally disabled. There is no shame in expressing our authentic feelings. Those are at times described as being "a mess" or "EMO" or having "to many issues"  are the very fabric of what keeps the dream alive for a more caring, humane world. Never be ashamed to let your tears shine a light in this world.
     To be so emotional about things that cause grief, things that hurt, There are too many people that are callous to the moral underbelly of this work. It is by the HSP that makes it so that the harsh world isn't that harsh. It has a softness that makes it tolerable. Those of us that are not so emotionally blind, are in tune with the world around us and those things that most tend to ignore. Not because they really want to because those things would crowd in on them and suffocate them. Highly sensitive people do the crying and the hurting for the rest of the world. We are the highly artistic, the creative minds that can make a movie that keeps you laughing, crying, smiling and walking away feeling good. We can paint a picture that brings out the child in you, lets you forget for a moment your pain, stress, work.
    In 6th grade when you were called names and laughed at because you didn’t do very well, it was the highly sensitive person that comforted you and made you feel better. In 7th grade when your crush laughed at you it was the highly sensitive person that sensed your pain even though you tried your best to say that you were fine. They told helped you past that. When you didn’t make the cheerleading team, it was another highly sensitive person that cried with you and held you as long as you needed. If it wasn't for these people, these brilliant minds and hearts go unnoticed. Yet the importance of them in all walks of life is one of those things that you never think about but unconsciously you are so glad that there are those kinds of people.
     We are the lowest, least thought about. We are the loners and the misfits. We get called names like "emo" "freak" "sissy" but do you want to know something, we wear those names with a pride that you will never understand. We revel in our differences and stand proud in a way that the "normy" could never understand. We know who we are when we pass each other in the hallways or the supermarket. We who have our heads starting at the ground avoiding any eye contact until we sense another highly sensitive person near. Its at that moment we come alive. We may not talk to one another but in passing, we slow down and give a practiced and respected nod to the other person we know is our brother, our sister. Something you will never understand.
    You think we are unhappy. We couldn’t be more happy in our "unhappiness" because we know who we are. We know the gift to society that we give and the contributions, unseen though they are, we know. You won't see us smiling, laughing or congregating in groups. Were loners for the most part. Just know that when you least expect it we will be the most important friend you’ve ever had and when you are over your crisis of emotion, we disappear just like we were only an illusion. Yes I am one of those people. I am proud that I am overly emotional. That I cry at the silliest things. I can feel on levels that most people will never be able to understand or know. That in itself makes me more alive and free then you will ever be. I feel sorry for those that will never know the deepest levels of happiness, or the saddest sad, or the levels of crying that free your soul, or the mixture that can come with being so happy you can't stop crying. We live on the fringes and only step into the light when you are in turmoil, when there is nobody else that knows how to operate unseen on your broken heart or shattered soul. We are medicine men, shamans, priests on a wind.