Poison

This is Circe an envious sorceress who, according to the Roman poet Ovid, was unsuccessful in her attempts to convince and persuade the hero named Glaucus to abandon his true love, the beautiful maiden Scylla, and instead turn towards herself. Circe wasn't pleased and to exact revenge upon both she poisoned the sea where Scylla bathed turning her into a hideous sea monster. You can see Circe above pouring her poison into the ocean depicted by artist, J.W. Waterhouse (1849-1917) in his 1892 painting called Circe invidiosa which hangs in the Art Gallery of South Australia.

I've been watching an individual poison their own life over the last little while and despite making some attempt to dissuade and guide her away from that path she's hell-bent upon that course with actions that carry her closer to which will ultimately be self-created oblivion.

I wonder if she'll get there and all of a sudden realise her actions only really hurt herself. I'll not know, I'll be long-gone because I've tried and failed to help her help themselves. Enough is enough, there's others that need my attention.

I'm not going to get into the situation but it made me think about how easily a person brings chaos to their own life and how blind they can be to the fact their actions are self-destructive at the same time as affecting others negatively, even those trying to help.

The actions the person above has taken, and continues to embrace, are as futile as Circe's were but while there's better paths to follow so many simply do not; they follow their course and at the end rather than creating a better situation they find themselves in a worse situation, alone and with little hope...very often wracked with guilt and regret; noy a good way to feel.

Have you ever seen someone do this to themselves, poison their own thoughts, attitudes, actions and general life?

Have you ever been that person and managed to claw your way out of the hole you'd dug? It's not easy to do and I'm not trying to make light of it; I'm certainly not trying to indicate I have all the answers either, but I know there's better ways to think and act and we don't have to go down the same path Circe did. If you have any comments then go ahead below.