I saw an art film once about Lancelot and the Knights of the Round Table.

They were always fighting with lances and getting knocked off their horses. Ending up in the dust with cracked bones.

Their armor was clunky and unwieldy. It had to be put on and taken off (takes forever).

When going to bed. Making love.

I thought to myself, some people are like that.

They wear, figuratively speaking, an unwieldy suit of armor. Chain mail. They almost never take it off.

Another way to put it is that there’s a shell, a carapace, around them. In which they are incased.

Yet, underneath all that is a genuine caring, feeling person. A sincere, authentic person. Their sincerity is compelling and touching.

A sensitive person. Sensitive, vulnerable people who are capable of great feeling. Who care deeply about and for others.

Who can love, yet have often been hurt.

Who must have been deeply hurt.

No one can break through their armor.

Poor things!

— Roger W. Smith

  September 2017