Like a surge from the west, sometimes, one gets hit by an emotional weather front. During the emergence of an over all abundance of sentiment, I can’t help but wonder what is the use of it all.

I speak for many when I make this statement: don’t toil with someone’s emotions. Don’t play up on their fondness of another, don’t tease with their compassions, and don’t prey on their fears, insecurities, or expectations. It hurts. Not like the sensation of a knife on skin, a fall from a bike, or a bump in the head, it hurts from a place one can’t reach, where Tylenol cannot help. Also, it lingers. Physical pain often dissipates like a summer storm; emotional pain can often have its own rainy season. Recently, I have begged to whatever spiritual presence is governing this world for a cessation of emotions. Tired of gloom, tired of disappointment, and tired of unrequited sincerity, I have dreamed of a day where I could walk around and complete my responsibilities void of feeling for you, nervous of what others may presume, or sad for my inabilities to succeed in certain arenas. I am a logical person, believe it or not. I like to have reasons behind things or at least a semblance of purpose. With the logical aspect of my personality, I wanted to find the reason behind emotions, especially mine. A big search, I know!

Music, personally speaking, is mankind’s most wide spread study on the presence and effects of human emotions. Love, joy, hurt, despondency, excitement, and disappointment are all emotional themes that are explored in the world of music. With lyrics such as: “Whats love got to do with it, who needs a heart when a heart can be broken,” “But its just emotions, taking me over, caught up in sorrow, lost in the song,” and one of the must painfully true musical lines, “Every time you build me up, you only let me down; everybody knows, almost doesn’t count,” the music industry has made billions of dollars talking about the human emotional state; however, for all its in depth observations, it does not provide a reason for them. I need a reason to provide clarity for my current tempestuous fog.

Why do we have emotions? In the scientific scheme of it all, there is no concrete discovery for the uses of emotions or the reason humans experience them supplementary higher then anything else on this planet. It seems that emotions are such a hindrance on the daily lives of people. I can’t count how many precious minutes I have devoted to thinking about someone, infatuated and long full or how many hours wasted in disappointment over them; these are emotions we are subject to. One day it dawned on me, during an emotional hurricane of my own; emotions are human’s reminders that we are more than just ticking time bombs set to expire on an average of 70 years; emotions are the spiritual bonds that link every living human being and defines our species. During abolitionism, people argued against racism and inequality due to the fact that we are all equal, we all feel sadness, happiness, fear, and dispiritedness, all being common emotions. Emotions were used as a unifying force, not just a singular manifestation experienced individually.

I guess understanding the web and interconnectedness of human emotions gives me a little more incentive to endure it all. Knowing that I am taking part in a shared experience of millions somehow makes me more understanding of people in similar circumstances, and dare I say more sympathetic? I guess, in the end, knowing that emotions contribute to the unity of the human race makes the lonely nights worth while and the good times that much sweeter.

On a final note, an Emily Dickenson poem sums up two of the most wrenching emotions humans experience: heartache and longing.

Heart, we will forget him!

You and I, tonight!

You may forget the warmth he gave,

I will forget the light.

When you have done, pray tell me

That my thoughts may dim;

Haste! Lest while you’re lagging.

I may remember him!

No matter what gender you assign your feelings towards, it is sentiment like this that further harkens my point that emotions are a unifying force. After all, haven’t we been there and done that at some point? Which ever of the plethora of emotions you experience, take solace that someone is experiencing it at the same time, and even though we may be in different worlds, or in regards to the poem, in a different time, we are all linked together because of what our hearts feel. Knowing this makes my sadness all the bit better and understandable.