the nerve to be seen

Reader,

Nervy neighboring doesn't just mean reaching toward others.
It also means risking being known yourself.

Not the polished or curated persona.

Not the safe, likable representative of you.

Not the version of you who has everything together.

But the whole you—messy, imperfect, hurting, disoriented, and in-progress.

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Viktor Frankl, in surviving the unspeakable horrors of Auschwitz, made a very deliberate choice:

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To feel. To notice beauty. To grieve. To choose an attitude. To hope. To be seen.

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​Even when invisibility would have been safer, he refused to let himself be unknown. This choice to remain fully seen carried tremendous risk, because prisoners who stood out in any way often faced extreme punishment or death. Those who survived longest often did so by becoming invisible—but Viktor chose to counsel fellow prisoners, give informal lectures on psychological resilience, pursue human connection and share his capacity for meaning making.

In a world hellbent on erasing humanity, choosing to remain fully alive—and fully seen—was an act of staggering courage.

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In settings where resources are scarce and security uncertain, such as Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, exposing one's true self and needs creates massive vulnerability.

So displaced families also have to make a very deliberate choice: To be seen by people they didn’t necessarily know, like, or trust in order to build new communities.

They risk offering their real needs, real stories, and real dreams—despite everything telling them to hide, hoard, and harden.

The community infrastructure emerging from these connections is incredible:

Markets, shops, and services flourish.

Educational initiatives grow.

Religious and cultural celebrations intertwine into new, hybrid forms of expression.

But perhaps the most profound aspect of this neighboring through radical vulnerability, is the radical hopefulness it produces. By sharing authentic dreams for the future—for education, for vocational achievement, for family reunification—refugees reject the narrative that their lives are permanently defined by displacement.

🧠 Nerve: The Catalyst for Real Connection With a Real Person

Deployed whenever you risk connection—

with yourself, with others, with your Creator, and with all of creation.
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It looks like letting yourself be seen, even if you fear being misunderstood.

It looks like staying present with your own vulnerability instead of masking it.

It looks like trusting that love doesn’t require you to earn your humanity.

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🌱 Reflection:

Where might love be asking you to let yourself be seen—

even though pretending feels safer?

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Still learning to be seen too,

Camille

ps: We’ll be exploring more about nervy neighboring at the Neighboring Intelligence conversation this Sunday.

Will you be joining us? Hit reply and I’ll get you the details. 💬

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