Heart Conditions...

What is the heart? Is it the shape we all too often see on Valentine's Day cards? Is it the center of all human compassion and emotion? Or, is it a muscle that pumps oxygenated blood throughout the veins, arteries, and capillaries that make up the human cardiopulmonary system? All three of these things are thought of as true, but there is an interesting correlation that I have notices among my friends recently. The metaphorical heart seems to affect the status of the physical heart.

As some of you that read this may already know, a good friend of mine Kirk Parker recently passed from this mortal coil due to a heart attack that he had in his sleep. For those of you that did not know Kirk, he was one of the most compassionate people that I have ever known. I'm 28 years old, and many have called me "jaded" which is a more accurate assessment than I feel comfortable admitting to, but Kirk (who was nearly double my age) had no such sharpness in his personality. My volatility was often countered by his temperance. Thus is not only the wisdom of greater years but also the amiability of Kirk Parker. Though we both saw the world through the eyes of a poet, his outlook was far more upbeat than mine and just as much if not more so valid for maintaining it despite all the additional years of empirical evidence. In a nutshell, he's the type of poet I want to be when I finish growing up some day. 

Now, I have heard that another man who I consider a good friend Derek Martinez has recently had to have open heart surgery in order to repair an aortic aneurysm (he has all my best wishes for a speedy recovery), and the proximity of these two amazing people having two related physical maladies has made me ponder a few questions. What link does the emotional heart have to the physical one? Why are those emotionally "good-hearted" people suffering from physical heart issues? What does this mean for my own heart's health?

I'm not a doctor, and I don't have all of the answers to these questions. If there is some metaphysical/physical link between the two, then it seems rather unfair that those kind-hearted people should have these problems. I'm a Daoist, and I believe in the principles of balance, one good thing must be weighed against one bad thing on the other side of the scale, but, for the life of me, I fail to see the balance here. I won't encourage "prayer" for Derek and Religious "Heaven" for Kirk as they defy my spiritual beliefs, but what I will ask of those who read this is that they send "good thoughts" Derek's way, and realize (much like I did) that the world lost a brilliant light with Kirk's passing, and that the night sky now shines all the brighter for it.