I need you to take this great lump of pain which I feel…. I want you to look at it, and feel it, and think about it. Perhaps you can blunt some of its edges, soften it a little with your tears, or throw it up in the air and catch it to show me it is not so heavy as I thought. Perhaps you can take a measure and show me its proper size. Perhaps you could just hold it a little, while I get back on my feet again. But then you should give it back to me because it is my load and my task. You may carry away a little of the poison, but the real task of making it safe can only be done by me.
John Lampen, Quaker essayist