“The conference offers refuge – to her and others – from a world that generally refuses to accept their account of why they suffer.”

“I tell her I don’t see a scarred woman when I look at her; I think she’s beautiful. She thanks me for saying so, but I can tell the compliment rang a bit hollow. One comment from a stranger can’t reclaim years spent hating the body you live in.”

“My willingness to turn Morgellons into metaphors – as a corporeal manifestation of some abstract human tendency – is dangerous. It obscures the particular and unbidden nature of the suffering in front of me.”

“I nod. Nodding offers me a saving vagueness – I can agree with the emotion without promising anything else. The nod can hold agnosticism and sympathy at once.”

Jamison portrays moments of empathy throughout her piece “Devil’s Bait.” At times Jamison makes comments about how understands the plight of those with Morgellons disease, even though she herself does not have the disease. However, Jamison also comments on how easy it would be to consider the disease a metaphor instead of a medical issue. She seems aware that her empathy “can’t reclaim years spent hating the body [they] live in,” yet still tries to maintain this empathy. Overall, I don’t feel Jamison uses empathy effectively. She remains aware that her empathy “rang a bit hollow”, but that does not disrupt her displays. It’s as if she does it for herself more than the people it’s supposed to be meant for. She dismisses the condition many times throughout the piece, adding internal dialog in an attempt to explain her dismissals. Overall, Jamison comes off as someone who wants to understand the issue, without validating the people affected by it.