"I'll Probably Always Have These Ugly Scars..."

Jazmine Sullivan's single "Bust Your Windows" isn't exactly new -- it debuted a year ago on her album Fearless. But you know, I never really stopped listening to it. Sullivan's a true vocal heavyweight, and it's crushing to hear someone so young sing lines like "I gave you all of me, and you played with it" with utter conviction. So after playing it yet again yesterday morning, I decided I'd do a post about it connected to the perennially miserable Three of Swords.

Unfortunately I can't embed the video, you'll have to click here to listen to Sullivan's version. However, I can embed the version that Amber Riley performed this summer on the show Glee, which is also pretty impressive:

It's funny, I'd already cobbled together the card for this post when I stumbled across Riley's version -- I just happened to watch Ep. 4 last night during my campaign to find out what's up with this Glee show that all the young kids are tweetering about these days. Spooky coincidence!

In my previous posts about the Three of Swords, I mostly focused on self-harm, denial, isolation, and loss of awareness; these are extreme emotional reactions to the bitter truths we'd rather not face head-on. The damage we do isn't constrained to ourselves, however: We often lash out at the people whom we perceive (perhaps inaccurately) to be the source of our pain. Or if we're in a hurry, we'll settle for the convenience of punishing whomever happens to be readily available.

And because of the hell we've been through, we feel completely justified in our actions, no matter how appalling they are. Our emotions are important, but they can also be disorienting -- in a crisis they'll send people right off a cliff, and ourselves off right after them -- but Justice is more satisfying in the long term, and it can't exist without reason and impartiality.

That's what Sullivan touches upon at the end when she wails, "But why am I the one who's still crying?" She's busted those damnable windows, she wrote her initials with a crowbar, and now she's even confessed the whole thing. So why doesn't she feel any better, already?

If you're wise enough to see that revelation coming before you start wrecking, then you're in a better position than most to appreciate and heed this card's warning.

Previously On Arcanalogue: The Three of Swords