Superguilt met the deeply distressed Lady Woe and immediately knew: “I have to save her.” He spread his splendid cape and promised her the moon. Promises as unattainable as his persistent attempts to fly.
Lady Woe, for her part, saw Heaven opening before her and thought: “Here is the hero who will lift me out of my misery.” And so, the contract of interdependence was signed.
What happened next? Neither of them got what they wanted. Lady Woe took her role as someone needing a saviour so seriously that she constantly demanded Superguilt’s attention, suffocating him until he had gone from hero to slave. A saviour swallowed by his own arrogance.
He had brought it all upon himself and, without realising it, had dug his own grave without saving anyone. Quite the opposite: he had been pouring petrol onto a fire already consuming everything in its path—which makes me think that arrogance amounts to two slaps and two very red cheeks.
Meanwhile, Superguilt had also taken his role as saviour so seriously that he could see no way out; all he could do was resign himself and stitch up the stab wounds. But what stopped him from changing course? The contract of guilt he had signed, which read: “I promised you the impossible, and I must pay for it forever.”
The way you see another person reinforces their identity; be careful if that identity is destructive, because you will only help it spread.
The greatest atrocities come from those who see themselves as the world’s greatest victims, because in their minds they have found a “good” justification for committing them. And no one is blinder than someone who believes themselves “righteous” while seeing and understanding only one side of the story.
Only those who want to be saved can be saved; therefore, only those who decide to stop seeing themselves as victims and take the necessary steps can find salvation. It is a free choice that only they can make, and they will make it only if they truly wish to.