Chemical Term as Metaphor, I

Crashing Out: When you synthesize a new compound, it's often best to get a crude yield by crashing out the product, drying and weighing it. This isn't the cleaned up stuff, this is just the stuff that's been forced out of solution, usually by the addition of a solvent in which the product and its associated side-products (and with luck there are very few and very small amounts of these) is not soluble. You might then recrystallize the crude product (if it's a solid) to get rid of the side products, and obtain the final yield of analytically pure compound. Recrystallization is accomplished by dissolving the crude product in the minimum amount of solvent, and then either cooling it down in a freezer, or adding another solvent in which the product is not soluble, or sometimes just by letting the solution sit in a closed flask in a place where there is very little vibration for a few days.

This is a physical process, one where a compound is forced out of solution in a "quick and dirty" method, resulting in an impure solid but one where the desired compound is in the majority .... assuming you've made what you thought you did, and I'm not going to explore the whole problem of synthetic mistakes right now. Consider life-altering events, things that have forced you to pick up the shattered pieces of your existence. You don't put them back together the same way as before, and in fact that process in itself should result in a shinier, brighter version of you. Negative events can damage us, but we must continue to refine the product (ourselves) and work on using our newfound knowledge, not to build a protective shell ... they always have flaws .... but to gain insight, become more malleable, more able to absorb shock.

How have you been crashed out during the course of your existence? What events have marked a profound change, made you look at the world differently, with more compassion or with a harder heart? Who or what initiated the events that shaped your life? When are we finished crashing out, and when are we recrystallized, cleaned up, ready for analysis?

Which events have sent you into a ranting frenzy, throwing your hands up and yelling at the gods who have forsaken you? Which have sent you to a crushing, mind-numbing silence, and which have made your heart expand until you thought it would burst? These are the moments when we crash out, where we clean out the extra unneeded bits and come through as a clean product.