Wear a Glove

From the Delta Enduring Tarot, the Novice of Oysters (Page of Cups); from the Southernisms Oracle, 'As all get out:'

The hands that help are better far than lips that pray.

― Robert Green Ingersoll

If you ever go to an oyster roast, you'll notice that the person who shucks the oysters uses a sharp knife and always wears a heavy glove on the hand that holds the shell. This Novice/Page, while sensitive and kind, hasn't learned the art of safeguards in the world of emotions either. The 'As all get out' card (a phrase meaning going to an extreme) suggests he has become entangled in someone else's drama and taken on their pain. Sympathy refers to pity for another, but keeps us separated from that person. Empathy has been defined as an ability to understand and accurately acknowledge the feelings of another; but in sharing the feelings of another, it is easy to lose one's sense of identity and sink under with them. Yet compassion indicates a deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it. The action (even if it is just sitting with someone who is scared) is the protective glove that keeps us from drowning in the emotional ocean of another person.