Are you really
invisible? When, and where? And what was not seen? Many of us are invisible
after the age of 50, but in our 20s and 30s, even earlier, more than one may
feel unseen. Does being unseen mean I can get away with more? Am I undetected?
Am I undervalued? Opaque? Unidentified? Invisibility happens still in the midst
of active careers and accomplishments.
A friend confessed surprise, finding
old letters that showed people missing her, for herself, that is, personally,
because of who she is. She’d thought she was invisible all those years, so full
of achievement and event. That the closest people saw only her deeds.
The slave Hagar fled into the
wilderness from her master’s abusive household and met an angel she named: Thou
God seest me. Seeing is everywhere in this mysterious story: looks of contempt,
envy, triumph, suspicion, and grief. Hagar was astonished: Have I also here
looked at him that seeth me? When her eyes were opened, she saw a well of water
in the desert.
I often feel invisible. It’s a gift
to a photographer, seeing rather than seen. But in truth you are seen both by
the known and the unknown.
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