Hypocrisy

Two weeks ago, when I was in Chicago, my family had rented a van to cart everyone back and forth to the hotel. When I was getting into the van (i think it was the morning of day 2) I noticed fingernail clippings all over the floor by one of the seats. At the time, I wasnt sure if it was someones or if the van was never cleaned from the last people so I asked those in the car (i get really grossed out by stuff like this)- my sister, aunt, cousin, parents- whether anyone had been biting their nails or noticed the clippings. No one said anything.

About an hour later my sister approached me and she was pissed. She said it was wrong for me to ask in front of everyone since I knew she bit her nails (i honestly didn't know it was her) and that she would never have done that to me with my trich. I was really caught off guard because I really hadn't even given it any thought- in my mind, fingernail biting is so common and nothing to be embarrassed about (although I would LOVE if people on the subway stopped clipping their nails in crowded cars- I find that so disgusting). She was right though- I would have been mortified if she had done that to me and I should have been more considerate.

Sometimes its easy to get wrapped up in thinking that trich is so unusual from other habits that only we are ashamed and embarrassed. The truth is, everyone has their own form of trich- something they might do or a habit they may have that they don't want to publicize. Just like we hope people won't judge us, we (or I) should be more thoughtful and empathetic- its true that you just don't know what life is like in anther's shoes.