Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Nothing Is Certain; Not Even Tomorrow


How does one go about protecting loved ones from eminent doom when the other person they are trying to help is too stubborn to listen to any sort of logic? It is hard to sit back and watch a dear friend, relative, spouse...what have you, set themselves up for disaster, all the while you are the one who is sitting at home contemplating if you could have done more to ease the situation. This I find, is arguably the worst part of the whole debacle; the sense of helplessness one feels for the sake of their loved one. When one finally musters enough courage to confront their beloved person, the danger of being denied is often times too great of a risk to take for it might yield results in ways otherwise unexpected. So what is one to do? Try and speak up about the problem fearing the other person might take offense and terminate any sort of dialogue that was to come? Or turn a blind eye on whatever is going on and do your best to trust they will at some point see the situation for what it really is?
I suppose each situation is unique to itself and there isn't a one size fits all solution. Sometimes it is better to speak up and say what you feel, other times it's best to just walk away and let the other person figure things out for themselves. The trouble is being able to tell the difference between when you should jump in the mix, or stay out of it.
This sort of situation reminds me of a Greek tragedy. The audience is in on the secret, yet the protagonist is in the dark about the fate that lies before him and dies a very calculated death. Very dramatic, I know, but the idea is the same. As an audience member (an outsider) you want to yell out what is so blatant to you and to the people around you just so the person on stage (in life) can wake up and see what is going on. If I recall all of the plays I have seen, the audience fortunately remains silent; they know what is happening on stage is make believe. If only art imitated life in that sense, then perhaps we can all take a sigh of relief in the end. A standing ovation? A bow? Et tu Brute.