channonyarrow

My overarching point, which apparently did not come across at all, is that I am really sick and tired of listening to people say "You can't understand" because what they mean is "I don't want to tell you." Whether or not we are all unique - and obviously, a person's life makes them unique is not the point. The point is that we are LESS unique than people would like to believe. I am more like you than I am like a salmon, even though you and I have very different personalities, lifestyles, wants, goals, needs, and frames of reference. You and I can communicate. You and I have a similar language, and can reach agreement on terms with relative ease. You and I are not teaching a fish to understand the Qu'ran.

Each person's life can be unique to them - and I agree with napalmmk9's point that our experiences make us truly unique and isolated from people - but that's a far cry from standing around saying "YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND MY WOE BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT ME." Well, um, thanks for asking me to try. Thanks for giving me the chance to tell you "I don't understand your pain." Thanks for abrogating any possibility of communication between us because really, that statement says that the speaker doesn't want to talk, not that the listener doesn't want to listen or somehow can't listen.