Orphans do not "exist" in our society
I’ve been an orphan since I was 13, and it still makes me angry the way our society treats people like me. And I just need to get that off my chest.
I get the feeling that people are still completely overwhelmed when it comes to dealing with the subject of death. I can understand that the subject stirs up unpleasant feelings, but avoiding it makes you feel like an outsider. It kind of makes me angry that the early loss of parents is always the plotline behind superheroes’ tragic childhoods (Batman, Spider-Man, Harry Potter, etc.) and is hardly ever discussed in everyday conversation. Because, sadly, it’s everyday life for countless children.
I feel like I have to drop a bombshell every time someone asks me about my parents, and it’s awkward for everyone involved every single time. It feels every time as though I’m a ‘special case’ and nobody knows what to say. And I understand that. But it would be so much easier if people were more aware of issues like this. Comments like ‘Just ask your dad’, or ‘I don’t know how I’d get by without my parents, I call them whenever I have a problem’ are just incredibly insensitive. People aren’t aware of the privilege of having parents or of having a good relationship with them. I live in Germany, and the bureaucratic nightmare of getting an orphan’s pension is a whole other story. It makes me wonder how those affected cope if they don’t have a stable environment like I do? Do they even have the chance to go to therapy, to somehow fight their way out of this situation? It must be pretty tough – the only ‘role models’ they have are the latest superhero, where once again it’s emphasised how tragic his childhood was because he was an orphan. The whole issue really makes me angry.
To put this into perspective, there are around 140 million orphans worldwide. In Germany, the figure is around 800,000.
Please share your thoughts on this; I’d be very interested to hear if there are others who have experience with this