ANSIR® Profile: Sage / Empath / Empath
Boss: Empath

My Plea

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Perhaps the most famous poem by William Blake, The Tyger asks who would create such a horrible being as the tiger (the old English spelling is Tyger). The speaker ponders if the same builder of the gentle lamb could possibly the same maker of the awesomly powerful tiger. Now I too do wonder. I wonder if the same person who once made my heart leap for joy can also crush it in his hand. I ask if one who only wishes me happiness can purposely give me such pain and not care. I dare ponder if my smiles and tears, my dreams andnightmares, my hopes and despairs can have the same creator.

"What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world! The paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me..." Hamlet.

Truly, man is one of the most dangerous animals on this planet. He can create a pain like no other being can; a pain of the heart. Yet, what is man really to delight in? As we give way to our basic urges, are we anything more than the animals who fight tooth and nail for mere survival? Man can be truly primative indeed, but we long to be more than mere survivors. We have a yerning for love, pleasure, peace, hope, joy, and so many other things. We long for it so much that we say a man does not truly live unless he feels such emotions. But with these emotions come their opposites: hate, pain, anger, hostility, despair, and sadness. It is inevitable. If you dare open yourself up to the first set, you also become vunerable to the second. It is a pain unimaginable unless felt. We either experience or hear the horrors of such pain, and resultingly fear it. So the question arises: do I dare open myself up to such grief as can possibly comewith such joy?

Even now, there are those who cannot decide. They want the joy of love, but fear the risk. This conflict of desire and fear lead them to indecision. I will be the first to testify that indecision brings a new kind of pain. You cannot lose hope, because there is still a chance. But you cannot lose despair, because there is still a chance. Neither a relationship can be built nor a rejection can be healed until a choice is made. You cannot move on with your life because you are tied to the signpost at the fork in the road and someone else is holding the key to your chains. You are powerless. I am powerless. I cannot force another's heart to choose one way or another. This, however, is my plea. Decide.

"The only place outside of Heaven where you can be completely safe from the pain of love is Hell." C. S. Lewis.

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