Accidental Violence

I'd like to explore the idea of light as a metaphor for life, and the feeling of accidentally causing harm to it whether or not you intend to.
The sort of object I'd like to use would be some sort of faintly lit soft object, and I've been looking at paper lamps due to their light weight and the way they absorb light.

The object itself will have to be created as I go, but there are some goals I have for this project. I would like to examine and exhibit some of the feelings associated with empowerment, and also with the destruction we cause in our everyday lives.
To detail, I would like the participant to have some feelings of being like a terrible giant, who can only destroy, even the things he/she cherishes. The light-emitting object should communicate fragility, innocence, nature, and life.
Ideally, the participant will kill and witness the death of something they see as a good thing, but hopefully without getting caught up in symbolism.

The concept of the piece would be for it to fade and "die" essentially in a way due to the overwhelming 'power' of the presence of the touch of the participant.
I'm interested in looking into making color and flickering effects help make this communication of feeling more effective.
Some potential flaws in the concept are that it relies on empathy which may or may not be present, and the connection is subtle enough where it may be missed altogether.