Tuesday, April 12, 2011

I Am Wondering...

What is that point
Where that thread breaks?
And people change,
for the worse.

A little boy sits up in his room drawing a picture. Shading, coloring to get the image of a horse just right. He dreams of being an artist or a jockey, maybe both, some day. Actually, he already is an artist, in his own way, if you think about it. He eagerly waits to show his Dad when he gets home, pacing back and forth in his bedroom.

"Goddamn fool. Boys aren't supposed to do art. That's for sissies. Put that shit away."

A lowered face, a limp hand, a crumpled picture falls to the floor. 10 years later, this boy, now 20, seems typical, seems superficial. He goes to parties and tries to get laid. He's in the gym six days a week to improve his body to help him get laid. He talks cars and sex and loads on musky cologne. But no one knows, no one knows, that he once had great, exciting dreams, dreams of his own, and that once he was channeled into being typical, he just. couldn't. stop.

A girl. 16 years old. Her mother looks her over in the kitchen, makes a comment about how she might want to watch what she's eating. Later, she'll recommend that she wear make-up to help her look more her age, to fix her uneven skin, to correct her misshapen lips. The girl cries because she wishes that what's on the inside is enough, if not for the world, then at least for her own mother. But it's not, is what she's coming to learn.

4 years later, this will be the girl, this will be the girl looking into cosmetic surgery. This will be the girl who people say is beautiful but never believes it. She will spend 2 hours every day getting ready. People will say she's self-absorbed, but when the object of most intense scrutiny becomes yourself, how can this be viewed as an illogical next step?

This post is not deterministic, saying that we can never change things. But, it invites you to consider why, instead of just criticizing what is. Where is the point where we break, and how can we change this? How can we get back to re-focusing on the beauty we once were, the beauty that, I think, can still emerge again, once the hardened, icy layer around our hearts is melted? How can we reconnect the thread that once made us an entire being and get away from being just a seemingly superficial shell? Let's prove them wrong. Let's prove our negative internal demons wrong. Let's do this together.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Can I Just Tell You...

That I wake up every day with pain screaming through the back of my mind.

Not the kind that's about oh my life's so hard because of this, oh my life's so hard because of that.

No. Because there's always going to be things to complain about. But I know, oh I know, that many people, if able to live my type of life instead of their own, would sink to their knees and weep in gratitude.

My pain is yours. It is inescapably, inextricably yours. The blood that runs through your veins is mine. The electrochemical firing of your neurons is also my own, burning white hot behind my eyes when you suffer. Your gut wrenching sobs, they get stuck in my throat, and I can no longer speak. I shake uncontrollably and wrap my arms around myself, but really, really, I'm just trying to hug you.

Always, always in the back of my mind, I am thinking about how people can do the overtly malicious things they do. Now, ignorance and apathy, those are a lot more subtle, a lot more difficult to combat, a lot easier to understand why they exist. They take much effort to change. But to severely hurt others. That takes a great, intentional effort to do bad. Trying to hurt-that hurts me.

I want it to stop. I want it. all. to. stop. I wonder every day why it can't. People tell me I need to pick an area to focus on, I'm taking on to much. When every day is a struggle to comprehend and cognitively bear, narrowing might seem like a lessening of the burden, but to me, it also seems exclusive. I need to remain functional, I need to be effective. Doing those things would seem to require a focus, but how can I leave others behind?

I love others. I just wanted to save them, and save myself. Was that really so much to ask? I wanted the world, that's all. The whole glorious, throbbing orb. I wanted to spin it into a world of love. I don't even know what it would look like exactly, because utopias, they're usually not. I just knew it would be better. Something better.


This was probably not that effective, but then again, maybe it was in some weird way. Maybe it will have unforeseen ripples. Either way, it was this-true. I need to get better at dealing with this. And I don't know if I'll ever be able to stop saying that.