The Sleeping Dragon

We want to be happy. Even those who claim they would rather remain angry or lonely or depressed say this because they believe that their current state is a happier (or more pleasurable) one than any other. There is a self-indulgence that comes with those emotions. Look long enough, in fact, and you'll find those whose choices bring them more pain than pleasure. The child who stays in his room after his parents have told him he can leave it, and the lonely man who turns down a party invitation, both refuse to trade away their pain, because their pain nurtures them.

Truth, in fact, can be hard to face. It's like a sleeping dragon, fed with rational thoughts laced with the sedative of false hope. So menacing is this dragon to us that we feel if it ever wakes it can do nothing but destroy us. Then, when we find ourselves in those brave moments when we peek closely, we find a knowing smile on its face, as if it is waiting simply for us to linger long enough to see it as it truly is. Its sheer size and nature means it can be hurtful, to be sure, but not so much that we can't ultimately handle it.

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