Quotation Contest entry

Sometimes when I’m in the bath, I think of how easy it would be to just slide down in the water, allowing the warm water to cover my head, my eyes, my ears, like a heavy blanket, blocking out the light, the noise, the air that connects me to the world and all the chaos and meanness surrounding me. Warm, clean water, pushing me down yet comforting me and protecting me from all the despair the world seems to offer, soothing away the hurts and slights and unfairness of life in favor of quiet and peaceful nothingness…

But then the self-preservation instinct kicks in. The need for oxygen trumps the need for escape, and the warm, heavy blanket is thrown off, and back to the world of chaos and meanness and despair we eagerly return. Giving up the notion of escape to comfort and avoidance of pain in favor of the only human response – acceptance of pain as a condition of life.

Experiencing empathy is the surest measure of our humanity. Feeling not only our own pain but the pain of others spurs us often to our greatest achievements. Man’s efforts to alleviate suffering across the world from disease, starvation and horrific poverty have resulted in great strides in technology and medicine which have transformed societies. Yet working in even small ways to comfort the suffering of others feeds our souls.

To ignore pain in favor of blissful ignorance is to deny our humanity, to starve our souls and to reject the opportunity to grow and evolve. Faulkner said, "Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain." I too would choose pain. To feel pain means I am alive and while I am alive I have a chance to change the world.
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