BY JOELLEN COLLINS
The phrase “hardness of heart” has stayed with me ever since I read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s works as a student. Hawthorne considered that the worst sin, and explored this loathsome human behavior in his memorable novel, “The Scarlet Letter,” which chronicled the suffering inflicted upon Hester Prynne by a cold-hearted society. His prized and complex short stories also often deal with characters possessing hard hearts, many closed to the joys of softening one’s edges. Hawthorne’s explorations of vices and virtues are highly provocative and entertaining literary gifts.
One of my favorite tales is “The Birthmark.” Alymer, a brilliant scientist, weds Georgina, an exquisite and much desired young woman who has a small birthmark on her face. The usually porcelain-tinted skin of her left cheek displays a tiny, rose-colored image of a small hand that is hidden when she blushes. Other men and former suitors have considered this unusual physical imprint as a singular and even intriguing symbol of her unique beauty.
However, Alymer develops a growing disgust for the flaw she exhibits and can’t control. He is inordinately proud of his success as a scientist and accepts only perfection in his life pursuits and accomplishments. It is increasingly evident that he has no room in his heart for anything that doesn’t add to his egotistical self-pride. His obsession with removing his bride’s flaw drives him to create a potion that removes the image from her face but poisons her soft heart, resulting in her death. His inability to soften the hardness of even part of his heart has destroyed the loveliest woman he has ever known.
In this holiday season, it may be that we open our hearts a bit more, with good music, spiritual energy, the gatherings of family and friends, and the happy emotions of celebratory surroundings. Even Facebook has fewer diatribes and more sweet images.
Being human, most of us occasionally exhibit hateful emotions. I like to think of myself as trying most of the time to be positive, hopeful and kind. I do slip away from that goal of goodness, of course. I am sometimes tempted to gossip, a practice I have fought to remove from my tendency to want to joke and make people laugh. Dishonorable comments, I have learned through bitter realizations, hurt the bearer more than the often-absent victim.
The one thing I can be proud of is that this year I finally let go of a quiet grudge I have nurtured for years against a woman who insulted, publicly, my intelligence when I was applying for a potentially wonderful job. At last I understand that my resentment has only been a negative to me. I will never know what private problems she may have had when she made that comment, nor will I waste the precious moments of this life in such destructive thinking.
So, cheers to this time of year and cheers to minds like Hawthorne’s, who remind us of the need to find the beautiful in others and nurture the best in ourselves. Open, not hard, hearts can help.