Compassion circle

In the hospital waiting room you see the range of relationships.

Bear with me now while I introduce them all.

There’s the frail old couple in the front row. He’s sick today, she’ll probably be sick tomorrow, but they’re taking the ’til death do us part’ motto seriously as they patiently wait to be seen. Their grandchild who is a trainee nurse in the hospital makes time on her break to pay a brief visit and sit with them. How nice of her.

Beside them in the front row is a woman on her own who takes a phone call and angrily asks – so how am I getting home? You get the sense that she has to demand love from her social circle.

Behind them in the second row is an entire family complete with both parents, an uncle, a sister, and a boyfriend who is their to support what looks like a minor injury.

They’re sat beside a woman who you initially felt sorry for, as upon entry a man brought in her bags, threw them on a seat, shouted he didn’t have any coins for her, and stormed out. But your pity doesn’t extend far, as it appears that she is a drug addict and sounds like she has four kids and you wonder if the man is furious at her for using again. She seems desperate to make friends too as she’s telling everyone her life story.

In the back corner you see another woman on her own who is narrating her pain and you get the sense she’s desperate for someone to ask her about it and say soothing things to her.

It feels like a minor snapshot into the compassion within one’s social circle.