Eyes Wide Shut

Say a family member or a close friend put their hand on a red hot burner on the stove and one day your phone rang and on the other end was this person whom you love a lot sobbing uncontrollably. "Ouch! Hot! Hand burned! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! With that first emergency call you would be overly sympathetic and supportive. "Oh, that's terrible. I'm so sorry. Put ice on it." But after several "Ouch! Hot! hand-burned calls over the  years, you might want to say something like, "STOP PUTTING YOUR HAND ON THAT DAMN RED HOT BURNER!" I said you might be tempted to say that, but let me give you a piece of advice. Don't. It won't go over very well. Best to just be sympathetic and supportive. Trust me on that.

Analogy

A comparison between two completely different things

used by people who want to make a point but rather than say

it like it is, they beat around the bush and make up stupid stuff.

                                                        ---Mikidikipedia

I'll admit it. I like to use analogies. When my friends come to me for sympathy and support, I make up stupid stuff--analogies as I see them--and then they leave, trying to understand what I just said, but the good news is they're momentarily distracted from whatever misery they're suffering. Most of the time, the misery is heartache. Self-inflicted heartache.

I used the red hot burner analogy with one heart broken friend once. How many times did she have to fall into lust and infatuation with a loser before figuring out what she was doing wrong?  How long does it take before they learn their lesson? "STOP PUTTING YOUR HAND ON THAT DAMN RED HOT BURNER!" I said. You get the analogy don't you? You're smart; I'm pretty sure you do. Well, it was a good analogy. It made perfect since. Stop that thing you're doing that gives you pain.  My friend got the analogy, too, but it didn't go over very well. Best to say "Oh, that's terrible. I'm so sorry. Try ice," followed by, "He's a loser; he'll never find anyone as good as you." Friends want to touch the red hot burner knowing they're going to get burned, and it's your job as a good friend to put their hand in a bucket of ice water and say, "Oh, that's terrible. I'm so sorry. Here's some ice." 

Speaking of analogies and touching red hot burners, I think I might be the toilet lid calling the toilet a pot. Or to use a better analogy, I could be the choir preaching to that picture of God on the wall above the statue of Jesus next to the pulpit. Nobody listening. Well, of course not. We're all on the same paragraph, just a different page.

Okay, I'll admit it. I spent over forty years touching that dang red hot burner over and over again. Same guy, but different name. Heartbreak. Sobbing. Well, of course, what did I expect? Do the same thing and expect a different outcome? Did I assume the result would be different? You know what assume means don't you? Sure you do. There's an ass hurting me and then I call u sobbing.

Whenever I got burned, I never told anyone. Well, that's a lie. I told Lynnette. She was always sympathetic and supportive. I couldn't help myself.  I went back to the stove again and again, turned on the burner, and just like all those times before, I placed my hand palm down on the red hot surface. "Ouch! Ouch! Hand burned. Hot burner. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" But no matter how many times I did the same stupid thing, my sister always said and did the same comforting but disingenuous thing. "He's a loser; he'll never find anyone as good as you. Got ice?" Then she tracked down that dang red hot burner, the source of my pain, and gave it a piece of her mind. Kinda like reprimanding a dog after it pooped on your sister's sofa. After five minutes have passed, he doesn't get it. What poop? What sofa?

In my late forties I took a baseball bat to the red hot burner.  I beat it to pieces. Kinda like that but not really. What matters here is the hot burner was gone. Adios to heartbreak and pain. So long sucker. Bye, bye now. Kinda like seeing the red HOT BURNER light that was there all along flashing CAUTION! DANGER! but I didn't see it because my eyes were wide shut; then I opened my eyes. Yeah, exactly like that.