On Being Known

So we're studying some poetry in English class.
Today we went over a bunch of poems by Edwin Arlington Robinson.
Draw your attention to his Poem, "Richard Corey", reproduced below. And yes, it is the inspiration for a Simon and Garfunkle song.

Richard Corey
Whenever Richard Corey went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich- yes, richer than a king-
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Corey, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet though his head.
-Edwin Arlington Robinson

So there's a lot that we discussed in class about this poem, specifically regarding the 3rd line about "sole to crown", but what most stands out in the poem, i think, is the shocker of the last line.
If that line wasn't in the poem, you wouldn't have ever guessed the outcome of the situation staged by Mr. Robinson.

See, this poem is about, among other things, the fact that no one [the "we"] suspected that Richard Corey would shoot himself.
Clearly, he was battling something internal that he didn't let show.
Clearly, being rich and powerful amongst pavement-dwellers wasn't enough to solve whatever crisis he was going through; maybe that was in fact his problem.

This poem, along with a bunch of others that we read by the same author, seems to point out how many times we don't share everything that's going on in our lives.

Think about it.
How many of your friends ACTUALLY know everything about you?
Chances are there's something you hide from everyone; maybe even yourself included.
And in the end, all it comes down to is that no one really knows everything about you. No one sees the world exactly the same way as you, no politician supports the exact same viewpoints as you... we're individuals.

BUT.

check out Psalm 139:1-4
O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when i sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. [NIV]

HOW COOL IS THAT?
Your friends might not know you; they might think you're the richest, most awesome person ever, and you might secretly want to go home and put a bullet through your head.
Or vise-versa.
BUT, God knows what you're going through.
He knows everything about us, and knows why and how we do everything.

Jesus said it this way:
"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me- just as the Father knows me and I know the Father- and I lay down my life for the sheep." (John 10:14+15, NIV)

So keep in mind that you don't have to be like Richard Corey. We aren't alone, or by ourselves. We have someone who knows us better than ourselves. And that's pretty cool.