Читать книгу Above and Beyond - J.S. Dorian - Страница 70

“Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.”

JANE AUSTEN

Those close to us can’t help knowing what we’ve been going through; it would be impossible for us to hide the effects of the disease. Sometimes, however, we try to smile through the pain, hoping they’ll think we’re doing fine. At other times we shut ourselves away in order to spare our loved ones the anguish they so obviously feel.

Most of the time, though, we’re honest and open about our symptoms because we know how important it is for all of us to be as accepting as possible. The problem is that we frequently feel terribly guilty for causing our family members so much heartache.

We feel guilty? Why guilt, of all things? It isn’t as if we brought the illness on ourselves. It isn’t as if we can “will” ourselves back to health. It isn’t as if we’re responsible for the ways our loved ones react to the illness, or that we have any control over their reactions.

The point is that there are quite enough weighty issues in our life these days, and most of them are as unavoidable as they are unfathomable. Guilt, however, is another story entirely. It is one burden we don’t need to pick up and carry around.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

Guilt is bad medicine.