I was given some sad news about a friend today. This was the second time in the past week that a friend has shared something sad with me. It really got to me. For the past few months I've been dealing with my own emotional struggles, but the things I've been dealing with pale in comparison to what my friends are going through. And I really don't want them to have to go through any of it. While I was in the shower tonight I started thinking that I wish I could take all my friends' pain and just give to me to deal with.
And as soon as I had that thought I went, "WHOA!" I turned into the Giver. For those unfamiliar with the book The Giver, read it. Seriously, it's a classic. But it centers around a Utopian community in the future in which one person, The Giver, takes on all the emotions of the people living there. He has to pass all that on to Jonas, who was selected to be the new Giver. When he has to take on pain that is when things start to not go well. I've never really connected to that book like I did tonight. It was really quite the epiphany. As much as I want to take my friends' pain away, that doesn't help them grow. And it doesn't do a whole lot of good for me either. I can barely deal with my own pain. So instead I just need to be there to support them and help ease the pain.
As I'm reading over this, I realize that the power of my epiphany doesn't quite have the same effect in writing that it did in my head. But believe me when I say it was pretty powerful. And I really felt the need to share.
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