Thursday, July 12, 2007
Just a random spontaneous thought...
Food for thought! Read a very thought-provoking quote on a friend's blog: "Every girl needs a guardian angel" and just *had* to say something.
"Every girl needs a guardian angel"?
Interesting, the usage of the words "girl" and "needs". Not to mention the fact it's blatantly obvious the person who said this was implying (hinting strongly?) that *he* would be the guardian angel for a certain girl. But do we need guardian angels, girl or no? Not the divine sort; the human ones. The word "angel" itself carries with it the connotations of total perfection, a certain level of infallibility, perhaps even omnipresence and omnipotence. And as such how can anyone truly be an angel, let alone guardian angel? More often than not it's the people closest to you who can hurt you the most, chiefly because of their closeness.
Perhaps it's the "needs" part that gets me more, though. Who are you to declare that it's completely necessary for a girl to have a guardian angel, especially one of the mortal sort? Let's not even get into the issue about the implications that your *ahem* guardian angel should be of the opposite gender yet. So we have friends, good ones. People we turn to as confidantes, people we trust with our more private thoughts, for a given value of trust. And still such a close friendship rarely seems to take on the dimension of the "guardian" and the "guarded". Aren't most friends more or less equal? To be a guardian angel, to me at least, involves more of tampering with someone's life. To exert a certain amount of control over what happens. Being a guardian angel entails more than just "being there"; it implies not only protection, but an actual physical (or metaphysical) involvement on a higher level, which the "guarded" shouldn’t really realise. (Damn you, Microsoft word, I want to spell realise with an S SO THERE.) To be frank, "What makes you think I need protecting?" Personally, I'd rather my friends be, well, just that. My peers. It makes it a lot easier to talk. Parents might come closer to being guardian angels, mainly because they actually have some ability to tamper with your life, but then that's a totally different relationship. I'm not saying that friends and parents and the such don't provide some measure of protection or help with life, but it would take something more to be a true guardian angel.
Furthermore, would you trust anyone besides yourself to know your very own deepest, darkest secrets? Be honest; I'm sure most people have *something* that even their closest friend doesn't know. Things they don't want their parents to know. Things they'd never ever tell *anybody* at all for various reasons. A guardian angel would have to be truly all-seeing *and* all-knowing to guard you properly, because he or she would have to know all your most private thoughts, your secrets, your weaknesses and so on. Do you yourself even know all your own deep dark secrets? Are you completely aware of all your fears and failings?
Finally, why "must" a girl have a guardian angel? Why the emphasis on gender? Is there anything that makes a girl more susceptible to falling, perhaps? Or in more danger? The very way the word "girl" is used implies immaturity and vulnerability; such a juvenile word. You say that men are supposed to be less emotional, but is that true? Emotion isn't even much of an issue here; it's more of the need for protection, for guidance. Does either gender need it more or less?
But if I don't trust me to know me, I can't trust you to know me better than I know me, let alone try to guide me. There's a single trail of footprints on the beach behind me, and I'd rather have walked it with just God alone than with anyone else.
Any takes, anyone?
;
Sirithros_Lirenel 9:29 PM
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