14th Nov, 2007

Selfish

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“Be selfish,” I whisper to him.

I’ve crept in into his bedroom in the small hours of the night. Stealthily I’ve slipped past the side of the bed where an almost-invisible shadow lies sleeping. With my mouth so close to his ear that he can surely feel the warmth of my breath, I almost silently whisper.

“Please be selfish,” I tell him. “You can’t push it aside. You can’t act like it doesn’t exist. You can’t substitute one thing for another.”

His eyes open. Sleepy, full of wonder, he thinks he’s dreamed me into his bedroom.

“You cannot give up your needs forever. You cannot live your life in the service of someone else, no matter how much you love that person. It doesn’t work.” I’m whispering more urgently now, looking into his eyes in an effort to make him understand.

I think he wants to speak, but he doesn’t. I’m not telling him anything that he doesn’t already know.

“Life is short,” I whisper. “Your time is finite…perhaps it’s particularly finite for you. Can you live like this? Can you get what you need from the options you’ve been given? Be selfish. For once, think only of yourself.”

Our hands have become entangled. I gently work my way free. Once again I plant my suggestion in his dreaming thoughts. “Be selfish. Think of what you want.”

I slip past the shadow on the far side of the bed and then out of his house. Will he remember in the morning that I was there? Will the message have sunk in?

I’ll probably never know.

Prepare a list of what you need
Before you sign away the deed
‘Cause it’s not going to stop
It’s not going to stop
It’s not going to stop
‘Til you wise up
No, it’s not going to stop
‘Til you wise up
No, it’s not going to stop
So just…give up.

–Aimee Mann, Wise Up

Responses

Oh dear. A Magnolia reference.

It’ll get better. It will.

thoughts are with you. hoping he comes around.

Whilst I almost hope you’re right, Syl, I fear that the magic has gone and it will never regain it’s original magic.

To the point where I think I’m going to remove AAG off my bookmarks.

You were talking about the blog, right?

AAG:

Really, what you’re saying to him is not exactly that you want him to think of his own needs first, but that you yourself have a desire to be magnanimous: ie magnificent in defeat. For in magnanimity comes catharsis and release.

Mischa.

The Confession of the Panther Woman ©

http://theconfessionofthepantherwoman.blogspot.com

Sex, drugs, and metamorphosis.

You are Milky Milquetoast, and I claim my 5 pounds!

Thanks for the heads up, JB. It’s always so pleasant to know when folks have had enough. :)

I hope the message has taken hold somewhere in his subconscious. Life is way too short not to be a bit selfish now and again.

Ha! I am not rising to your cliffhangers anymore. I know your tricksy chronologising. For all I know you and Matthew have been married for six years by now. I refuse to be manipulated! I am unmoved!

*refreshes page frantically for next update*

Y’all crack me up.

There will be NO MORE MARRYING FOR ME!

NEVER!

:)

Uh huh. I said that. Then ten years later… The memory not what it used to be…

**Fingers in ears**

Lalalalalalalalalalala I’m not listening!

i said i would never pierce my tongue too… now can’t take the damn barbell out for anything and it’s been in for hrm… 12 to 14 years…

seriously, i’ve lost count.

never is a funny word.

as for people having enough it’s funny isn’t it how such folks refuse to go gently into that good night?

Oh wouldn’t it be wonderful if they’d just disappear? Why oh why must they share with me when they decide they’ve had enough? :)

i wish i knew miss aag but they do it to me as well. ‘not only am i dumping you but i’m going to dump all over you first and get rid of some of my angst…’ which of course, only makes them more unhappy :)

ah well, good riddance right? (and never does anyone ACTUALLY delink you when they threaten to anyway so really who cares?)

[oh yeah and THANKS!]

They delink. They delink with a vengeance, sometimes, I think.

Eh, oh well.

Can’t please everyone.

:D

lol

they told me once that 25% of people will like you, 25% will hate you and the other fifty are indifferent.

so i just worry about the 25% i can affect :)

[i've found that whenever anyone flames out of my blog they somehow magically keep reading it while talking about how awful i am everywhere else... though the links disappear you're right. i should have said bookmarks :)]

I’ve heard that the very most popular blogs are the ones wherein a bunch of people LOVE the blogger and another bunch of people ABHOR the blogger.

Heh.

:)

Sometimes the internet is an unfriendly place. I got called a “thick lawyer cunt” the other day just for gently suggesting that perhaps “disease-ridden gyppos” was not a nice way to talk about Romanians.

excellent song….and would that we could easily be as selfish as we’d like to.

well then miss aag you have your first hater… and you’re really popular. fair enough :)

katy: that’s hilarious.

I’m with Katy… err.. I wish I were with Katy.. mmmm

But, seriously.. I too am wondering about the chronology of everything… “today’s” dream could have happened 3 months ago for all we know.

There will be NO MORE MARRYING FOR ME!

NEVER!

I second that! NEVER again!!!

My first hater?

Noooo. More like eleventy-first hater.

:)

well that just makes you a fantastic blog… see how that works?

:)

For the briefest of time,,we captured Lightning in a bottle,,It was Magical, Fantastic, and Totally Satisfying,,But Lightning, For all its wonder, is Transitory..
I will Forever Treasure what we had…And, I will Love You Always…

Kiss…

JB: Please speak for yourself in future. I refuse to allow anyone to use my words as a tool for backhanded abuse. Thanks.

Miss Syl you are such a sweetheart.

Kiss.

Well, just to be *quite* clear about what *I* thought about the technical merits of the piece, since it’s come into question…

I thought upon reading it that this was one of your especially well-written entries. In fact, this exact kind of writing is what keeps me coming back to read your blog. I just happened not to mention that in my comment.

There. Hopefully that’s f’in clear enough. ;-)

Miss Syl,

You are nothing if not extraordinarily clear.

:)

Selfish is good… coming to understand that alot now that I’m free… doing things because they were expected from the family… doing things because they were expected from the ex… yep, sometimes living for others (unless your Mother Theresa) isn’t healthy… being selfish is good.

This is the second time I’ve heard this from two different places in the past weeks… the world is sending me a message, no?

Well the comments have confused the hell out of me, but the post is something i fully intend to emulate. If I can’t be out and out about what i think is best for a certain someone in my life i will try this lovely indirect method…
I love everything about this blog. You raise the bar almost daily. No pressure though! :)

Oh right!

No pressure!

:)

Thank you Serenity!

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