What it means to become a vermin

Have you read The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka?If you have not, let me give you a little summary.Gregor Samsa is a travelling salesman. He works hard, worries about his employer, and carries a great deal of responsibility for his family. He is basically the one keeping things together financially at home.Then, one morning, Gregor wakes up and discovers that he has been transformed into a vermin.<img alt="" src="/media/inline_insight_image/1000893383.png"/>Not exactly a cockroach or a termite, as it is often translated. Kafka uses the German word "Ungeziefer," which is closer to “vermin”: an unwanted, repulsive creature.And honestly I think that is more fitting.Because Gregor does not only wake up as something that looks different.He wakes up as something that is no longer useful....an outcast. Kafka never gave an explanation for this transformation. But if you have read his other works, you'll understand the absurdities of his writings.<img alt="" src="/media/inline_insight_image/1000893385.png"/>The first time I read the metamorphosis,I did not know what to make of it. My teenage mind was actually sooo scared of transforming into a vermin too,if anything.But I read it again with an older mind,and I began to understand Kafka.Before his transformation, Gregor could work. He could earn money. He could provide for his family. He could fulfil his responsibilities.But after his transformation, he can no longer do that.And slowly, the way people see him begins to change.He becomes a burden.A problem.He becomes....a thing. A thing to be hidden away.Something they would rather not have to deal with.But what makes Gregor's situation even more heartbreaking is what happens inside his own mind.He has just woken up to discover that he has transformed into a vermin, yet his first thoughts are not even about what has happened to him.He is worried about missing his train.He is worried about his employer being angry.He is worried about how he will explain his absence.Imagine that.His body has changed completely, but his mind is still trapped in the same routine.He has internalised his responsibilities so deeply that even becoming a vermin does not immediately make him stop and ask, “What has happened to me?”He is still thinking about work.He is still thinking about disappointing his employer.He is still thinking about being useful.And perhaps that is one of the saddest parts of Gregor's transformation.The world did not simply teach him that his worth came from what he could provide.He had learned it so well that he carried that belief himself.And this is where the story becomes painfully familiar.We may never wake up with six legs and a shell on our backs, but many of us understand what it means to become a vermin in the eyes of society.Because we live in a world that constantly asks:What do you bring to the table?What do you earn?What can you provide?What can you do?How successful are you?How useful are you?And there is nothing inherently wrong with contributing. We all have responsibilities. Families, friendships, workplaces, and societies cannot function without people giving something of themselves.The problem begins when what you bring to the table becomes more important than who is sitting across the table.We can become so accustomed to measuring people by their usefulness and success that we forget they are people before they are providers.The successful person is admired.The wealthy person is respected until he is no longer wealthy.The intelligent person is celebrated until he stumbles one time.The well-connected person is welcomed until he cannot link you to one person.The person who is always available becomes indispensable until someone else replaces them.<img src="/media/inline_insight_image/1000893384.png"/>You are only important until something changes.You lose your job.You stop achieving.You run out of money.You can no longer help.You need to be helped instead.And suddenly, the attention changes.The calls become fewer.The invitations disappear.The person everyone needed becomes the person nobody knows what to do with.Sometimes, you do not have to become physically repulsive for people to start treating you as though you are.You simply have to stop being useful.And perhaps the most uncomfortable part is that we also participate in this system.We complain about being valued only for what we can give, yet sometimes we do the same thing to other people. Yes,it is hard to admit but we all do that.We ask what someone can offer before asking who they are.We remember the person who helped us and forget the person who needed help.We can become so focused on what people bring to our tables that we forget that they might just want a seat.Gregor Samsa's body changed overnight.His humanity did not.That is what makes his story so tragic.He remained a son.A brother.A person who worried about his family.A person who had hopes, fears, exhaustion, and feelings.But once he stopped being the person they knew him to be, those things became increasingly difficult for the people around him to see.<img alt="" src="/media/inline_insight_image/1000893409.png"/>And then I realized that a vermin is not necessarily someone that's less human.Sometimes it is about being treated as though your humanity matters less once you are no longer useful.And that leaves me with one uncomfortable question:<blockquote>What happens when you stop being useful?</blockquote>Who still sees you?Who still knows your worth when you have nothing else to offer?And there is another question worth asking.When someone else has nothing to offer us, do we still see them?Do we still remember who they are?Sometimes we are Gregor.Other times we are the people standing outside his room.<img alt="" src="/media/inline_insight_image/1000893393.png"/>

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