The Heart is A Cruel Thing

              The poem "In the Desert", is a small poem but it is packed with meaning. In the poem, the narrator comes across a small creature who is eating his own heart. When asked if it is good, the creature replies, "It is bitter-bitter. But I like it because it is bitter and because it is my heart" (Crane 1). 


               The creature really shows the persona of almost every person on this Earth. We all believe that our hearts are good, pure, and clean. We, of course, see the good in ourselves. If we saw only the bad acts we commit we would all hate ourselves and that would be both an unhealthy and depressing world. So instead of discovering the pain we have caused, we discover the joy and happiness we have given to others. We love the kindness in our hearts, but in with all that kindness is a bitterness because man, deep down, is unpure. We are a sinful people and we spread so much bitterness with our tongue and with our actions that we leave a bitter mark on our hearts. Our hearts are marked with sin and due to this fact we almost love to act maliciously in certain situations. We have the saying, "what goes around comes around", and we use this to justify acting meanly towards other people. We love getting payback and therefore we sometimes love our bitterness. 


Question: If you looked truthfully at your own heart would you see mostly sinfulness or pure happiness?