Pain is not absolute

Met someone today.

She is a transgender, a woman born with the body of a male, she was disowned by her family when she was just 13 years of age, underwent a sex change operation when she was 17, discovered that she is HIV +ve when she was 30 years old and now at 56 she heads an NGO which has taken upon itself the responsibility of getting this oppressed and pariah social group its dignity.

The meeting was an incident that would remain with me forever, it was humbling, eyeopening and yes...painful to a large extent.

Her story is a rude awakening to people like me, who are so obsessed with the SELF, that the smallest of discomfort becomes a pain. Its a case in point to prove that pain as i know it does not exist,its a relative phenomenon, which due to my insensitivity to others, became an absolute.

There are many others like me who should know about her existence.

I was too busy trying to put out the fire within,
till i saw her, leading others,in the light of her burning body,
to the spring, that shall dowse their flames,all this while SMILING.