soapboxdiner

Why talk about it if you won't do a thing about it?

What is it about sadness that makes the world tiptoe around a person? As if sadness is a thing to hold delicately in one's hand and nearly revere - giving it quiet nods or an occasional well-placed tsk tsk but certainly not telling the sadness what you think of it.

I often wonder why that is. We bring it up to gawk at but then do nothing with it. As if it were a car crash on the side of some highway. We slow down and spectate, but rarely are we the good samaritan. We just keep on driving.

Why don't we tell the sadness, "Oh, bullocks and bullshit." or "Well, it is only what it is. It is sad, but there are other things and much, much better things to think and act upon beside the sadness." Even if one thinks of the sadness, it certainly isn't worth all the energy people put into its tactful observation.

I wonder, do any of us say aloud what we really think when we hear of a personal tradegy? Do any of us ever say, "You did it to yourself, stupid." or "Yup, that's sad. Let us now move on." Why are we not more often the good samaritan for sadness? Why has compassion become a thing we feel but refuse to act upon? For compassion is more than an unused empathy. Compassion cleans the closet and puts the contents in their rightful places.

I wonder, does quiet reflection heal the sad? Or does it just preserve it in a trophy case for sadness's bearer to pull a rocking chair up to, rock rock. Revere, revere. Does the faux-respect we have for the emotion do more good than harm?

We all, I think, are motivated by this form of desperation. Desperate to avoid pain. Desperate to be happy, successful, rich, liked, well-spoken, understood. We all see the desperation - like a weakness - in each other, but we hold our tongues. In it's way, it promotes this self-encasing wall that causes us all to feel alone. Which naturally is a completely false conclusion. But without an acknowledgment of commonality, however are we to feel the kinship within ourselves?

Sadness does not deserve respect. Not the form of respect we currently give it. What sadness deserves is truth, gentle or not. It deserves a light at the end of the tunnel, whether that light is provided by the bearer or the observer. What sadness deserves is a kick in the ass. Laughter in it's face. A kiss. A hug. A punch. For godsake, give it something real, something that puts it in an accurate perspective. Something that acknowledges it, and then lets it go.

8:55 am - 02.02.03
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