He may not know how to remedy it, he may not realize just what is the matter; but he knows when something hurts and he alone knows how that hurt feels.
W.E.B. Du Bois: “He may not know how to remedy it, he may not realize just what is the matter; but he knows when something hurts and he…”
Editor's note · Context
Du Bois highlights the unique perspective of individuals regarding their own suffering, regardless of their ability to articulate it.
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And yet, being a problem is a strange experience,—peculiar even for one who has never been anything else, save perhaps in babyhood and in Europe.