-or- I know more than a few
"Often Guests forget their things
Leave their hats, their coats and rings
Other people leave their stains
Leave their shadows leave their pains
Some people leave their bones
Some things you can't return"
--Devon Graves (Dead Soul Tribe) "Some Things you can't Return"
We would like to think we are all individual, autonomous beings. We would like to think that what we does only affects us. We would like to believe that others have no power over us.
We would like to.
But we can't. To do so is to blatantly lie to ourselves.
Connections, strands of a wide spun web, bind us to each other in many different ways. Some strands are vibrant and powerful, others thin and frail. But there they are, linking us to those around us, to those we have met, even to those we 'know' online. Depending on to whom these strands connect, they can act as a safety net, catching us when we fall, and even helping to pull us up. Or perhaps they are a cleverly crafted noose, just waiting for the bottom to fall out.
Everywhere we go, in everything we do, we leave a part of us behind. And some things you can't return.
I truly believe that people are inherently good. It is the optimist in me. Yet we don't all choose to remain good. Many elect to replace it with anger, bitterness, hate, and venom, rooting the goodness from their breast and actively casting it aside. Rather than lifting up, they spend their days tying nooses, hoping to hang anyone who gives them the slightest opportunity.
I consider them human stains.
They leave their spot behind, smearing their filth on everything they do. Try as we might, some things we just can't return. We can attempt to sever the strands binding us, but to the delight of the stains, it usually isn't a clean break. Something lingers, something distasteful, something repugnant.
The most dangerous stains are the smartest ones. They hide the dirty stain in a colorful array, masking its presence. Often it is only once we realize how mired in the grime we truly are that we see the stain for what it is. And by that time the human stain has such a noose ready for us that it can seem insurmountable to break free.
We can. We should. But it isn't easy. Offering excuses for their behavior, they hope to convince us there is a rational reason for their stain. And, of course, there is: they embraced their stain long ago, and let their stain consume them.
But stains aren't easily sated. The long to spread. And pretty soon, if we aren't vigilant, they have their filth all over us too."