Months before I moved to New York City I made the mistake of watching a documentary about rats in the city. I learned rats could chew right through cement and squeeze their entire bodies through holes no bigger than the size of their skulls. Rats must constantly gnaw on anything in order to keep their always-growing teeth a manageable size. Their jaw muscles exert a shocking 12 tons of pressure per square inch. Rats spread disease, fleas and cause fires from chewing through electrical wiring. In moments of extreme stress they attack each other and will even resort to cannibalism. After that film, the mere sight of a battle-scarred super-sized rodent with a flesh tail would cause my heartbeat to quicken and stomach to churn. I found myself in fits of panic if they got more than a few feet from me.
When my ex and I moved from Brooklyn to Washington Heights we discovered a fairly developed rat nest in the roots of a tree in the sidewalk. In the rats would scurry from their nest across the sidewalk and into the alley of a building two doors down from our own. We’d hear screams of people who had made the mistake of walking on our side of the street night after night. My ex-husband counted as many as 20 rats at a time in the courtyard of our neighboring building. We’d watch in despair as they would chew perfect tunnels through solid concrete the city poured over their nest.. Animal control repeatedly set poison traps, and laid wife mesh over the concrete and nothing seemed to stop them.
Then one night, out of nowhere my reaction towards the monstrous creatures changed. I was coming home late at night after a comedy gig and saw one, all by himself sniffing around the subway platform searching for food. He had half of a tail and large patches of baldness along with matted fur. This rat wasn’t doing so well, and for the first time I saw desperation in his movements. He just didn’t run around like every other rat I’d ever seen before, he seemed panicked and fearful.
I couldn’t help but see a part of myself in this poor dying creature. When I first moved here, I was one half of a couple. I had dreams and ambitions that always included the man I thought was the love of my life. Fourteen years later after the terrorist attack on 9-11, a city-wide blackout, Hurricane Sandy, a devastating divorce, the premature death of too many friends, suicidal thoughts and crippling depression I found myself alone. I’m not as young as I once was, my reproductive capacity shrinks by the minute and I’m deeply damaged. In order to pay my bills I work constantly. Some weeks I might get one day off, or work nonstop without a break for days on end.
There are those who criticize me for choices I’ve made, things I’ve written or said, and my “bad” attitude. Of course they have no idea what goes on in my head, or how difficult it might be to come back after such a devastating loss. Things haven’t completely healed and in the past six years I’ve rarely felt strong emotion towards a man for any extended period of time. I don’t know if I’ll live the rest of my days alone. In many ways surviving after the breakup has been harder than the split itself. One day turns into another and nothing changes.
I get harassed on a daily basis with men leering at me, shouting out filth, blocking my path or even grabbing me on the street. Most of the guys who express interest in me only want sex, and will literally not even touch me after the fact. It’s as if I’ve left the room and might as well leave, which is usually what I do anyway. I’ve numbed myself enough to stand it, and swallowed pride and emotions with the increasing dexterity. If that’s what I need to do to survive then so be it., I survive, but only barely.
So when I looked at that rat, desperately hunting for food, doing nothing more but trying to make it to the next day I felt empathy for his plight. I didn’t want to go near the poor animal, and I’m not kidding myself about wild urban rats. They’re a dangerous scourge, the city is right to try to eradicate them and control their numbers. Regardless he was still a little life who never did anything but try to make it to the next day. For reasons beyond his control he was born into a crowded metropolis and will probably die of starvation, poison, or at the teeth of another rat soon enough. For the first time in my life, I had compassion for something I had once reviled. Chances are he never ate another rat, or attacked a human, he was probably just an average rat living off a garbage and dodging subway cars. I sat down on a bench a safe distance away from him and watched his darting and scheming until the next train came.
As much as I’ve been through, and as hard as things get, my struggles and pain have been a gift. Had I stayed married and enjoyed the success of my ex-husband’s thriving career I might have never found empathy and compassion for that sad little animal. I would take what I had for granted, and failed to see that every new day is truly a blessing. I had to lose everything to become more human. My life might not get easier for many years to come, or it could change in an instant. I’m just happy I’m still here and I don’t fear the rats anymore.
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