Fueled by TV shows or comics, we all fantasised about becoming super heroes as children… Some of us wanted to fly, some wished to be invisible while some indecisive others went back and forth; having a hard time choosing from a range of super powers like mind reading, teleportation, breathing underwater, bending elements (thanks for this one Avatar!) etc… but none of us ever wanted to possess the power to fix the world… especially the broken people roaming it.
When we grew up into adulthood, some of our super-power embedded childhood dreams came true as we walked down the career path to became firefighters, cops, doctors, teachers etc…. in other words; realistic superheroes of the modern age. But still, none of these careers involved fixing broken people (Unfortunately, nobody considers psychologists as superheroes).
Enter the scene “Empaths”: the human aerials for human emotions, believing that our only mission in this miserable world is to make people happy. We are modern superheroes, too. The only difference is that we didn’t choose to be empaths; or in other words, to suffer by embracing others’ screwed up emotions. As empaths we literally feel what others feel… we are often attracted by emotionally scarred people and try to fix them by performing our art. The happier we make people, the happier we become as we take in positive feelings as well.
Sounds good?
Then, how come it’s a curse?
Imagine sitting peacefully in a not so-crowded cafe sipping your drink in a self-induced bliss. However, it’s close to lunchtime and suddenly the cafe starts swarming with people of all sorts. All the empty tables around you are taken and clamour starts running rampage… it’s not the gibberish mix of sounds bothering you… it’s the uproar of the alien emotions flowing into your mind all at once just like looking right into the Aleph of mixed feelings. You look to your right, see three men in suits, check them out one by one as anger, greed and envy starts crawling into your soul in the same order of appearance. You turn your head to the left, see an attractive woman with her eyes glued onto her latte and disappointment rushes into your soul. You don’t even have to look behind you to feel the guiltiness ready to invade your soul. Suddenly, you feel pain in your gut accompanied with extreme bowel movement, you are almost sure that one of your family members or a close friend has a nasty diarrhoea. You briefly think if you’re going insane as you might be the unstable one feeling all these emotions at once. You never know. But it’s time to leave. You come eye to eye with the waitress to ask for the bill. She gives out a genuine smile with genuine sorrow in her eyes. You pay the bill, smile, say thank you, and leave, making her wonder why she felt so good after an ordinary gesture from a total stranger. Outside, you wish you hugged her tightly. But our contemporary rules of society does not look good towards sincere hugs coming from strangers. You get home and think why you don’t have a kryptonite to make you powerless as a superhero. You pour yourself a glass of red wine… close enough although the colour is off.
Barış Cansevgisi 