Divergent
Spanish
Crónica breve de una diversidad poco aceptada
Suena el despertador a las 5:00 AM. Enrique abre los ojos y se levanta rápidamente para bañarse y desayunar. Tiene que apurarse, pues debe tomar a tiempo el autobús de las 6:00 AM que lo dejará en el Metro, y de ahí agarrar otro autobús para llegar, finalmente, a su lugar de trabajo. Trabajo que odiaba con todo su ser, no solo era un martirio, sino que además le quedaba muy lejos.
Antes de tocar el timbre de la oficina, soltó un largo suspiro de frustración. Al entrar la secretaria lo saluda con un “buenos días”, él le contesta lo más educado que puede y se obliga a forzar una sonrisa. No había terminado de sentarse en su cubículo cuando aparece una compañera de trabajo, que lo saluda abrazándolo desde atrás y le pone las manos en los hombros. No paraba de rozar su pelo contra su cara, le dio un beso en la mejilla y le preguntó cómo había estado su fin de semana.
Enrique balbuceó una respuesta seca y trató de quitarse de encima a la pegostosa muchacha, la cual había entrado a trabajar hacía dos meses y desde entonces no paraba de coquetearle a pesar de que él en ningún momento le dio señales de querer algo más que una relación de trabajo. Pero eso no era lo peor: Enrique odiaba todo contacto físico posible con los demás, con muy pocos se sentía cómodo en esas situaciones y, por lo general, esos pocos ya lo conocían bastante bien para saber que no podían tocarlo tanto.
Esa tediosa rutina se repetía todos los días y él ya no sabía cómo hacerle entender a Antonieta que no estaba interesado. Varias veces escuchó cómo sus demás compañeros de trabajo se burlaban y le murmuraban a ella que muy posiblemente él fuera gay, ya que nunca lo habían visto mostrar interés por ninguna otra chica de la oficina o contar que estuviera saliendo con alguna. La consolaban y la instaban a salir con otras personas. “Sí, por favor, déjame en paz”, pensaba Enrique cada vez que oía el penoso diálogo.
Pero ése no era el único bache en el camino. Él batallaba día tras día en parecer como el resto: se reía de chistes que no entendía cuando veía a los demás hacerlo, fingía no importarle cuando ponían música a todo volumen, trataba de incluirse en conversaciones sobre temas que no le interesaban, cuando alguien se sentaba demasiado cerca trataba de disimular su incomodidad, y cuando alguno hacía algún comentario altamente estúpido, reprimía el impulso de contestar con su sinceridad cruel y mordaz.
English
A brief chronicle of a diversity that is not widely accepted
The alarm clock rings at 5:00 AM. Enrique opens his eyes and gets up quickly to take a shower and eat breakfast. He has to hurry, because he has to catch the 6:00 AM bus that will drop him off at the Metro, and from there take another bus to finally get to his place of work. Work that he hated with all his being, not only was it a martyrdom, but it was also very far away.
Before ringing the office bell, he let out a long sigh of frustration. Upon entering the secretary greets him with a "good morning", he replies as politely as he can and forces himself to force a smile. He hadn't finished sitting in his cubicle when a coworker appears, greets him by hugging him from behind and puts her hands on his shoulders. She kept brushing her hair against his face, gave him a kiss on the cheek and asked him how his weekend had been.
Enrique stammered a dry reply and tried to shake off the clingy girl, who had come to work two months ago and since then hadn't stopped flirting with him even though he never showed any signs of wanting anything more than a working relationship. But that was not the worst of it: Enrique hated all possible physical contact with others, with very few he felt comfortable in those situations and, in general, those few already knew him well enough to know that they could not touch him that much.
That tedious routine was repeated every day and he no longer knew how to make Antoinette understand that he was not interested. Several times she heard his other coworkers tease and whisper to her that he was most likely gay, since they had never seen him show interest in any other girl in the office or tell her that he was dating one. They would console her and urge her to date others. "Yes, please leave me alone," Enrique thought every time he heard the pitiful dialogue.
But that wasn't the only bump in the road. He struggled day after day to look like everyone else: he laughed at jokes he didn't understand when he saw others doing it, he pretended not to care when music was blaring, he tried to include himself in conversations about topics that didn't interest him, when someone sat too close he tried to hide his discomfort, and when someone made a highly stupid comment, he repressed the urge to reply with his cruel and biting sincerity.
World Mental Health Day!
Al final del día llegaba agotado a su casa, aunque esa palabra no era suficiente para describir su nivel de cansancio. Era como una fatiga crónica que lo consumía porque, a diferencia de los demás, él tenía el doble de trabajo. Una oficina para él significaba ruido, mucho ruido y estímulos que no quería. Tenía que luchar constantemente con la falta de concentración que eso le producía, nadie parecía notarlo porque durante toda su vida se acostumbró a encajar en un mundo paralelo de su propio mundo interior.
A algunos les parecía bastante peculiar a veces; a otros les parecía gracioso o muy raro.
Su único consuelo era adentrarse lo más que pudiera en su trabajo como programador; era allí donde podía desahogar su gran concentración y meticulosidad en el mundo del software, códigos, programas y diferentes sistemas operativos. En muchas ocasiones se impresionaba y se desencantaba a la vez por entenderse mejor con una computadora que con todos los seres humanos a su alrededor. Cuando llegaba el fin de semana, lo único que hacía era dormir profundamente. Ni salir, ni divertirse, solo aprovechar la calma de su zona segura.
Un día encontró mayor tranquilidad en el trabajo, pues a la fastidiosa de Antonieta la despidieron por incompetente. Ya no tendría que sufrir con su comportamiento invasivo y aguantar piropos y “abrazos” que no pidió. ¡Qué alivio! No se había dado cuenta de lo mucho que le irritaba esa situación y de la tensión constante que tenía, fue como quitarse un peso de encima. Ahora hasta podía sentirse menos ansioso en su ambiente laboral.
Tres meses después se sorprendió cuando su jefe Pablo le propuso cambiarlo de puesto, lejos del resto de sus compañeros, a una oficina para él solo. Enrique aceptó sin dudarlo. A partir de allí las cosas mejoraron muchísimo, él ya hacía un excelente trabajo, pero una vez lejos de todo estímulo pudo concentrarse mejor y su rendimiento aumentó notablemente.
Seguramente, Pablo no tenía ni idea del paso que había dado en tratar de ponerse en los zapatos de Enrique para entenderlo mejor. Él ya se había dado cuenta de que era diferente al resto de sus empleados, así que decidió darle su propio espacio porque sabía el gran potencial que tenía y, de ninguna manera, iba a desperdiciarlo.
Que diferente sería el mundo si cada vez más empresas se atrevieran a adaptar los trabajos aceptando la diversidad neurológica de todos. Se aprovecharían más habilidades y se le sacaría el jugo a personas talentosas que no son tomadas en cuenta por no encajar con la mayoría típica. Porque todos tienen derecho a ser incluidos y poder trabajar en ambientes adecuados a ellos. Todos tienen derecho a estar en un ambiente sano que no afecte su salud mental.
At the end of the day he would arrive home exhausted, although that word was not enough to describe his level of tiredness. It was like a chronic fatigue that consumed him because unlike others, he had double the workload. An office for him meant noise, lots of noise and stimuli he didn't want. He had to constantly struggle with the lack of concentration it caused him, no one seemed to notice because all his life he was used to fit into a parallel world of his own inner world.
To some it seemed quite peculiar at times; to others it seemed funny or very odd.
His only consolation was to go as deep as he could into his work as a programmer; it was there that he could vent his great concentration and meticulousness in the world of software, codes, programs and different operating systems. On many occasions he was both impressed and disenchanted by the fact that he understood himself better with a computer than with all the human beings around him. When the weekend came, the only thing he did was to sleep deeply. No going out, no fun, just taking advantage of the calm of his safe zone.
One day he found more tranquility at work, because the annoying Antonieta was fired for incompetence. She would no longer have to suffer with her invasive behavior and put up with compliments and "hugs" she didn't ask for. What a relief! He hadn't realized how much that situation irritated him and the constant tension he was under, it was like a weight off his shoulders. Now he could even feel less anxious in his work environment.
Three months later he was surprised when his boss, Pablo, offered to move him away from the rest of his colleagues to an office all to himself. Enrique accepted without hesitation. From then on, things improved a lot, he was already doing an excellent job, but once he was away from all stimuli, he could concentrate better and his performance increased significantly.
Surely, Pablo had no idea of the step he had taken in trying to put himself in Enrique's shoes to understand him better. He had already realized that he was different from the rest of his employees, so he decided to give him his own space because he knew how much potential he had and there was no way he was going to waste it.
How different the world would be if more and more companies dared to adapt jobs by accepting everyone's neurological diversity. More skills would be tapped and talented people who are overlooked because they don't fit in with the typical majority would be tapped. Because everyone has the right to be included and to be able to work in environments that are right for them. Everyone has the right to be in a healthy environment that does not affect their mental health.
¡Gracias por leer!
Thanks for reading!
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