Introduction
Everybody has buried within him a person he does not know. Most of us are lucky, and our encounters with that person are few and brief. Others are not so fortunate. Those people are forced to confront that stranger that is themselves, and deal with it. Sometimes, that hidden person can totally take over a person. Other times, it can be defeated.
Perhaps the most famous example of this fact of human nature can be found in the splendid "Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde," by Robert Louis Stevenson. In that classic story, a good-natured scientist drinks a potion he hopes will distinguish the good in him from the evil. Instead, the evil takes over completely.
Not all things are a matter of good and evil, though. People are complicated beings, subtle and shadowed.
Such was the case with Sharon Simmons. A beautiful girl, she never let her beauty sway her from her interest in learning. She had ambition and she was positive nothing would ever stand in the way of her goals.
Still, just as there is evil in everybody, there is also a creature who lusts for the carnal, the sexual. It existed in Sharon, but she never acknowledged it, never sought to confront it. She pretended it was never there, and that turned out to be her downfall.
It is necessary in life to reach compromises with one's self. Sharon didn't. And when, against her will, the lustful part of her rose to the surface, she found herself unable to beat it back.
The Bible asks us to know ourselves, and that is a more profound recommendation that it appears at first glance. Each of us should examine ourselves, understand what makes us tick, and be ready to deal with those submerged parts of ourselves that we don't see every day.
Read Sharon's story. It might just help you understand the importance of acknowledging the hidden you. And when you've finished reading, take a good long look at yourself. You could wind up avoiding a lot of pain and suffering.