Through the Dark

This world is full of such dark and despairing places; where the walls are painted with heartache, where floors are awash with the blood from wounds which cannot heal and where the shadows are the ghosts of everyone who has ever hurt you. Everyone carries their own burden. Some never share it, some share it in secret, some scream it to the world, but no one ever listens. No one can help you except yourself, though they will try.

I read of them, those secrets whispered into the night, and am left shaking. I am ashamed of the darkness in this life. How has human suffering become so great? Once, there was nothing but thoughts of family, of needing to keep everyone together because that was the only way to survive. But now, everyone has become absorbed by their own lives, and they forget to look at the lives of other people, and offer them the help they need. There are the friends that nobody sees, there are the pains that no one knows about, there is the love that is never shown. We keep so much of the dark to ourselves; we are afraid to show our vulnerability, afraid to show how we've been wronged, because we fear that no one will care, and that we'll be left alone.

People have come from the lowest depths of darkness and risen to burn the brightest. We cannot say that we give up because the going gets tough. Within us all there is a strength that for some reason we have all grown accustomed to ignore. But the truth is, we can draw on it, wrap it around ourselves, and fight through all the suffering life may lay on us. Yet there are those who give up; those who kill themselves because they cannot see another way out, those to whom no help was offered, no love was shown, and no care was taken. And it is our fault.

But there should be a light. We should all become less selfish, we should look at those who need help more than we do, and we should extend our hand to them and pull them from the depths of their despair. It is our right as humans to have someone care, and it is our responsibility as human beings to care. If we don't, we cannot expect it of others. The greatest of human tragedy revolves around the same fears: that of being hurt, and that of being left completely alone. The stories may be different, but the core is always the same. We should promote understanding by reaching out to those who have suffered, we should accept those for their differences, and appreciate them for their imperfections. Above all, we should love, deeply and unconditionally, everyone we meet, for they all harbour some injustice. It's not impossible for everyone to have their own sunflower field. Take a second, look at that person you call your friend and for once, let the veil of deceit be lifted, and see their pain. The lonely will become loved, the hurt will become whole, and all shall have a chance at happiness.