#1402 - Once you have seen it
There's a stain on the wall. It has been there for a while, but you never noticed it. Then one day, it caught your attention, and from that moment, it becomes the first thing you see anytime you enter the room.
Same with that smear on the car, that detail in a movie or that automatic behaviour in someone. It usually happens with things that are unexpected in that context. They steal your attention, and that's it.
You can't go backwards and not see it.
You just can't.
Once you have seen it, you cannot unsee it.
You can choose to ignore it and do nothing about it. But it will still be there, and you will keep seeing it no matter how hard you try to ignore it.
Or you can act, speak out, do something to fix it if it can be fixed or process it if it can't.
The choice is yours, but whatever you choose, you can't unsee it.
It applies to material stuff but also to intangible things in life. Once you become aware of something, that's it. You can't go back.
The trouble is that once you see it, you can't unsee it. And once you've seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There's no innocence. Either way, you're accountable. ― Arundhati Roy