95. Acceptance

Imagine two rooms of people
strangers and friends
family.

In the first room, you are
_invisible

not hated, not forced out
but ignored.

They laugh, they smile
with lips like plastic wrap
stretched tight over something unpleasant
but you are not

hated.

In the second room, you are

there

and the music swirls around you and
mingles with the chatter

mindless, yes, but surrounding you and including you
wrapping you in itself.

Tolerance is a cold, emotionless word in a cold, emotionless world
populated by ice and glass.

Acceptance is fleece and down and warmth.