Pain is pain and there’s no use comparing—in particular, there’s no use saying what you’ve been through isn’t bad enough. There’s no rating system, no Olympics of suffering. Dark is dark, period, but one way we distract ourselves from our own pain is by getting really concerned with everyone else’s pain. You become like a traffic cop for other people’s journeys—Oh, you think that’s bad? Oh, please, it’s barely dark where you are. Cry me a river. This is not helpful. Not for you, not for them.
