"Can you imagine what is it like to be afraid to go to sleep at night?"

A young man was referring to children growing up in a place where violence is not unfamiliar, or so he supposed. He was speaking to someone he assumed knew naught but loving safety in her childhood as he mostly likely had experienced himself. Never would he have guessed that a family member had repeatedly visited himself upon her and created an atmosphere of terror, not safety.

She did know what it was like to be afraid to sleep at night.

She found his comment insensitive and inappropriate. She was angered and shaken at his comment. I agreed with her. I agreed because I also knew that fear as a child, a young adult. She knew I would understand. And I understood exactly how she felt about his comment. I would have felt the same had I been there.

But he didn't know. How could he?

It makes me wonder...how often have I been equally "insensitive" because I didn't know?