Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Of defense mechanisms and disillusionment

I was watching the Animal Planet program "Corwin's Quest" last night (hosted by Jeff Corwin--I enjoy his shows immensely; he kind of reminds me of Ryan Reynolds' Van Wilder character) and he touched upon a fascinating creature called a horned lizard. Now this reptile may look quite formidable--with its spikes and all--but it's actually quite a benign animal: non-aggressive, and it becomes quite cute-looking too, after you get used to it.


Reminds me of some humans. Sure, many of us might seem prickly, scary, unapproachable. But in a large number of cases, the "spikes" we show to the world--the aloofness, outrageous behavior, acts that aren't who we really are--are just a defense mechanism. Deep inside, we're benign, harmless, lovable. These defense mechanisms are probably a result of past hurts, created (voluntarily or involuntarily) to avoid being hurt again. Isn't it a wonderful thing whenever we come across people who are able to see past the horns, the spikes--who are damn brave enough or care enough about us to go past them and reach the heart of us?

If you have such persons in your life, count yourself among the fortunate and take care of them. They're very hard to come by. They're a big part of what makes life beautiful.

There are so many two-faced people today who say one thing and mean another, it's enough to make one lose faith in the whole human race. Unfair and sad, but true. Disillusionment, thy name is Janus.


16 comments:

NanNan said...

Powerful post--so true, and I consider myself one lucky hornED lizard !! Ouch to Janus ???

Mimi Lenox said...

I always enjoy the way you lay your heart on the line in your posts - literally for all the world to see - now THAT is a brave thing. You've written some beautiful sentiments here, Lizza. I feel sorry for anyone (even Janus) who can't see what a lovely lady you are.

Lizza said...

nannan: Thanks. You make a lovely horned lizard. :-D

Mimi: Thank you. You're one who writes beautiful sentiments, too.

Anonymous said...

Tis very true and I cannot agree more
The scary ones are loveable and vice versa at times but then there's still a handful that is loveable both inside and out
It's great to know you have such people that graces your life... I too am content of those that graces mine and I appreciate them very much
:)
Have a nice day

Anonymous said...

Very, very insightful, and true. I hope this wasn't prompted from a hard lesson learned though, that would be sad.

Lizza said...

zeroimpact: Great to know that there are people we can trust, isn't it? I appreciate your constant visits. I'm checking out your blog!

Michael: Well, I think most of us have encountered a Janus at some point in our lives. The lesson learned is just part of the school of hard knocks. :-)

Edtime Stories said...

great post and so true. I see people putting on that mask all the time. Funny how insecure they are.

Prometheus said...

Praise the Lord, Dubya ain't two-faced. The world just couldn't take one more of that.

Some spiky folk are gentle inside, yes. Many are like the Praying Mantis, gentle outside and spiky inside.

Humankind, the wretched race.

Lizza said...

edtime stories: You are so right. Thank you very much for dropping in. I'm eager to visit your site again.

Prometheus: Awww, not all of us are bad eggs, my dear friend!

little things said...

Thanks for dropping by my blog! It makes me smile to see one of my favorite creatures depicted on your site!
Did you know that fire ants are destroying the horned lizard population? Sad, but true.
Wonder who the fire ants would be then in your analogy?

H said...

I like lizards. prickly or not.

Luckily and thankfully i have a lot of such people in my life who can see past the horns, the scales, the fire-breathing and the snorting.

I'm one happy dragon these days.

Anonymous said...

I agree, we've all dealt with Janus at one point or another.

I always thought horned lizards were cool! I found one once, on the sidewalk outside our apartment complex (years ago) and I wanted to keep it (they're clearly NOT from Dayton Ohio -- the best I could surmise is that it was an escaped pet) but Lee said NO. So, I took it to an exotic pet shop and surrendered it to a heat lamped-terrarium.

Anonymous said...

Oh it's quite cute. Lizards are the only pet I haven't had apart from rats.

You have to learn to look beyond the outside appearence of someone.

Lizza said...

it's the little things: Hmmm...gotta think about how who the fire ants would be in this case. :-) Thank you for stopping by; I enjoy reading your blog.

h: And they are lucky to have such a dragon in their lives! ;-)

Morgen: That's amazing! I'm glad you found it and made sure it was safe. Other less-enlightened people might have harmed it.

Rose: You've had many kinds of pets? That's cool. I bet the spider you encountered recently wasn't one of them, though. :-P

Noor Masood said...

HI!

long time no c! your blog is as happening as always :)

Lizza said...

Hi FG! It's great to see you back. I'll catch up on your posts.