A Work of Fiction

An excerpt from a short story. (Listening to: "Eli's Coming" by Three Dog Night)

In every way, in every possible manner in which someone or something can be complete, he was not. An atom of hydrogen needs one proton and one electron. With either of these components missing, it ceases to be what it is, and becomes something wholly new. In the same manner it is with people.

Invariably, a time will come in every person's life when, Silverstein-like, a human being will find the piece that makes them whole. What's more, until you find this piece, you don't even know you're missing it. Unlike the titular character of the above reference, you go through your daily routine, blissfully unaware that all the while you are lacking that which will make you complete. For some, it is a passion. A thing you do without which you feel a noticable ache. Similar to the way that missing breakfast can make a person feel sluggish, irritable and without rigor, lacking this one activity can change your whole day, often for the worse. Surprisingly, these folk are the lucky ones. For the woman who loves running, all she needs to sate her fix is a long stretch of emptiness and a pair of shoes. For the man who cannot do without his work, he needs only four walls and possibly a telephone. These people can always have what it is they seek.

No, the unlucky ones are those who find themselves inextricably bound to another human being. Call it what you will, filial bonds, friendship, fraternity, even love. For these, every day without that person seems a day in darkness. Indeed, the misfortune these humans find themselves in is disastrous. A friend can betray. A father can die. A lover can take another. The curse of human beings is that we are, by our very nature, social animals. We thrive on interaction with others like us; however the misery inevitably comes because we are powerless to stop another from taking action which irrevocably harms us.

God has given us free will. He has done this in his amazing Grace and Foresight so that we may choose, each of us, our own path. He has chosen this route for His creation so that in the end, we may discover him not by force or by compulsion, but rather by complete and total choice. However, there is a duality to this gift, as there so often is. The flipside is that because we are free to choose of ourselves, no human being can compel another to remain. Those people who find their counterpart in another are damned to, at the very least, wondering if that other will ever leave. Often times the action begins small. A word, a careless phrase, perhaps even something as meaningless as a touch or a movement. Once committed however, the action begins a spiraling out of control that would make the butterfly effect seem to be as simple as a lever or an inclined plane.

What then, shall be done? The choices are simple. Retreat into a shell of impenetrable armor, never to allow yourself the human connection in a true and meaningful manner again; or, more dangerously, begin to find another piece of you. For you see the time will come when you will discover that you are not a pie with a slice removed. You are a cheese grater, with more holes than can possibly be filled. Indeed, the time will come for all of you. I pray that you make a better choice than our protagonist. And so, our story begins...