Mugged

The part of the encounter that hurt the most was not the beating or the humiliation of being robbed, but the fact that such callousness and lack of compassion could exist in the world. Cuts heal and bones mend but the knowledge that people could turn off, or worse never have developed, empathy and kindness produces a deep malaise that threatens to engulf me. That people could be so selfish that inflicting pain on others was somehow acceptable for no other reason than it provided a brief monetary gain makes me yearn that I had not nurtured empathy.

What made it worse was they weren’t even real.