Elephant in the room

Elephant in the room is a very common metaphorical expression, which is generally, used to refer to something important or enormous that is obvious or known to all but is deliberately ignored because of some sadness, embarrassment, or because it makes us feel uncomfortable.

Two men talking to each other in a room with an elephant standing in the middle of the room on a stool. Photograph courtesy — the internet. Let me know if you own the copyright of this image.

In our life, we encounter a lot of different situations where we are just stuck with these Elephants and had to live our life, bearing its burden with us. The best-case scenarios or the best solution to deal with these kinds of situations are:

“It is best to deal with the elephant in the room before the entire circus comes to town.”
…because elephants don’t belong in the room. And even Elephants would like it better in the forest than being confined in some room 😛

But we all know the best-case scenarios or ideal conditions are not applicable in the real world. Some problems or situations are better if being considered as invisible elephants or feelings — even good or bad.

Just like, “Disturbing the still-ideal water of a pond with a stone causes a wave of repercussions in the pond”. Similarly, a disturbed elephant can cause some permanent cascading damage to the room. So, sometimes it’s better to not touch the elephant in the room — even if it means living with its burden.

But writing this down, made me again realise that “There will always be two sides of a coin”, and “Darkness will always be there under the source of light”.

All you can do is choose a side and live with it in the light. And this is it — at least for today, July 7th, 2022 — Day 2

First published on shivamrathore.com/essays/elephant-in-the-room