I think it’s really interesting how we, as a society, are so invested in other people’s pain. Our constant consumption of content is focused primarily on other’s trials and tribulations. In our books and movies and songs and television shows, the most popular content is that which is based in pain.

So the question left to ask is why do we love pain so much?

Could it be that it is easier to relate to because we’ve all felt pain in some way, shape, or form? It seems to be a rite of passage in our society, especially amongst youth, where we spend our days comparing the battle scars on our hearts, for those of us who have braved worse conditions than our peers must surely be superior. Yet, we seek to erase our pain. It’s paradoxical and paramount to how we view the world around us.

Or is it because negativity and pain are what inspire our twisted minds? What bares the soul more raw than being broken? Repeatedly and ruthlessly torn apart until there’s nothing left but a shell of who we once were and the subsequent sea of emotions that take over like a tsunami. I can’t breathe and I never learned how to swim.

So maybe we tell ourselves that we wish to live happy and boring lives because we’re too afraid of how sadness and anger fuel our creativity. Notice that seldom is there great work inspired by happiness and contentment. I’ve always told my friends not to be worried, it’s easier to write from a place of sadness or anger or hopelessness than from satisfaction.

What is happiness without sadness? What is passion without loss? And if we don’t know pain, how can we know healing? The sweet rush of relief that fills us, catharsis. We don’t live for either side, but merely to experience the whole spectrum. We wish to let life take its own course as the universe breaks us and pieces us back together again. It’s agony, slowly and sweetly sucking out our souls and then giving us life again all to experience the exhilaration and the emotions. Yet, the question still remains: why?

That answer is simple: to understand what it means to be human.