Welcome to the Moth. I'm Meg Bowles. We hear this term, I feel seen often enough.

People jokingly say it when they find someone who shares an appreciation of something,

a mutual love of Argyle socks or fried pickles. But some people wish they could be seen in a deeper way,

while others hide in the shadows for their own protection.

In this episode, we play with the idea of being and not being seen.

When not being seen or acknowledged shines a light on a deeper social construct,

or when being seen, can literally put your life in danger.

Our first story comes from the writer, Eliza Reed, who lives in Reykjavik, Iceland.

She shared her story live on stage at the Union Chapel in London.

Here's Eliza Reed, live at the month.

One spring evening, back in 2016, I just finished cooking supper for my four kids who were two, four, six, and eight years old.

And the landline phone rings.

Now when the landline phone rings, that was usually either my mother-in-law calling from down the road in Reykjavik, Iceland, where I live,

or it was my own mother calling from the farm in Canada where I grew up.

But on this occasion it was neither.

It was a man who identified himself as a pensioner in a remote northwestern part of the country.

And the man told me that he had been watching my husband Goodney on television that day.

And he was so impressed with what Goodney had to say that he just thought he would call and pass on the message

that he thought Goodney should run for president of Iceland. Now, the news in

Iceland that day was dominated by something called the Panama Papers scandal, which you may

remember was this scandal that involved various offshore tax havens and global leaders or their

families. And in Iceland, our prime minister at the time and his family were implicated in this scandal

...