Jean Charles Cazin: Tobias and the Angel (1878)

Background Note:
Tobias and the Angel is the traditional title of depictions in art of a passage from the Book of Tobit in which Tobias, son of Tobit, travels with the Archangel Raphael without realizing he is an angel (5.5–6) and is then instructed by Raphael what to do with a giant fish he catches (6.2–9). The Book of Tobit is accepted by Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians as part of the biblical canon but not by Judaism or most Protestant Christians, the latter including it in the Apocrypha. (Wikipedia)

" … mirror images playing before us."

Those who have been Exiled develop an ability to recognize others who have been Exiled, their FellowTravelers. This fraternity was never anything anybody aspired to join. Each was conscripted, much as each was Exiled, not necessarily against their will but probably without anybody first asking permission. Being Exiled must leave similar wounds across its population. Exiled men, women, and children each seem to carry this common attribute. Time doesn't seem to affect its presence. Neither does any trauma related to the experience. For some, their Exile served as an escape; for others, an imprisonment, yet for both, the experience seems to leave similar indelible traces. It's rare that anyone quickly discloses their personal experience with Exiles. Most keep this story secret until the listener can be fairly classified as an intimate. Yet when the disclosure finally emerges, the previously Exiled listener will probably experience an I Knew That Moment. They realize that they knew without being able to assign an explicit label to that sensation.

We're all connected in myriad ways. We tend to focus on the more superficial relations: ethnicity, religion, and political persuasion, without usually recognizing the more profound associations. Veterans share history without necessarily ever meeting each other before. They share that history before it's even told. I understand that combat veterans can sense when they're in the presence of another survivor of that experience. Each vet's service might have been different, but it was also, at some level, identical. It requires little sensitivity to notice another who's somehow a part of me. We meet them occasionally. Someone who seemed to be able to finish my sentences for me when I first met them while waiting in a grocery check-out line. Family from different mothers but perhaps the same father.

Being Exiled seems traumatic whether salvation or incarceration results. I suspect the experience bruises DNA so that it replicates differently afterward. It's never quite the same again. Those of us with Never Quite The Same Again Histories get pretty skilled at hiding our mysteries from prying others. Those who were never Exiled might only notice a mild case of words not precisely matching accompanying music. Those who've shared that particular trauma might more quickly resolve the small mystery playing out before them. They sense the presence of a fellow refugee. They tend to be more forgiving as a result, more understanding of any shortcomings they might observe. They might automatically ascribe some character exhibiting itself, no mere virgin before them but a slightly scarred veteran. They recognize a sibling when they see one.

We are each accompanied by angels as we pass through this world. Few of them will ever announce their presence. It's up to us to sense they're there and to care. It's far too easy to feel lonely, especially in crowds. The noise and jumble usually resolve into confusion for me. I see before me way too many thems and far too few us-s. My superficial perspectives can blind me to the insights I should seek. It too often seems like a hassle to engage in any way but superficially. We can all sometimes take this trivia altogether too seriously. Isolation might be the illusion that we're not surrounded by angels, a few of which share some of our secret history. It's safe to presume that in any group numbering at least twenty, one other will have also experienced an Exile. They will be wearing invisible wings similar to the ones you wear unaware. When we're fortunate, we peer through the veil isolating our experiences to notice mirror images playing before us.

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Tags: #Exiled, #PureSchmaltz