The stranger is psychologically disturbed until he proves otherwise
Dialogues
The stranger is the person we do not know and are unfamiliar with; he is every individual we meet, speak to, or interact with for the first time in our lives.
I do not claim here that every stranger to us must suffer from psychological disorders solely because he is a stranger. Rather, because he is a human being, he is susceptible to many psychological disturbances, especially in today’s turbulent world, except for those whom my Lord has shown mercy to.
It is incumbent upon a rational and psychologically sound person, ethically and psychologically, to interact with every stranger according to this pattern until the opposite is proven. Among the logical indicators in this context, we mention the following:
- Psychological disturbance is more ambiguous than moral disturbance: The distorted behaviors of a morally disturbed person are evident, either in the way he speaks and the words that come out of his mouth, or in his unethical actions. However, the condition of a psychologically disturbed person may remain hidden until a rational and psychologically sound person interacts with him, especially until the rational person begins to expect him to behave like any other sound individual.
Old psychological complexes, in particular, require time to become apparent, and for the other stranger to begin uncovering his confused way of thinking and his disturbed psychological biases. Caution with the other stranger is the logical choice for every person of sound judgment.
- Safety in caution with the other stranger: A rational person’s wariness and caution toward a stranger, perhaps even his reprimand of him until his true nature becomes clear, is better than interacting with him after meeting him for the first time in a spontaneous manner without appropriate logical caution. Many psychologically and morally sound individuals may encounter problems they could do without due to their excessive assumption that the other stranger must be like them—psychologically sound and morally upright. Safety lies in caution with the general public.
- The most common negative psychological compensation: Instead of working on improving his personality or following appropriate medical guidelines to treat some of the psychological complexes he suffers from, a psychologically disturbed person tends to compensate (alleviate) the psychological distress he feels by tormenting others, in order to feel psychological relief. So do not be a punching bag onto which every disturbed individual vents his complexes.
A Kuwaiti writer
