I have tried not to get caught up in the celebrity trial that dominates some of the U.S. news stations. However, when it shows up in every Canadian media outlet - including the Owen Sound Sun Times - it's just hard to miss. The excitement built when a verdict was declared. Now the papers are posting articles every day with speculation on sentencing. I don't in any way condone the behaviours or heinous acts that have been perpetrated. And yet, there is a part of me aching to scream out "But don't forget, there's a person in there."
For all the horrible things that we humans do to each other, we are all still human. We were all born with the potential to do great and good things. Some of us just took a very wrong turn. When the shocking news emerged from Cleveland about three women escaping an unbelievable horror, I admittedly felt anger at the accused. And I still feel some of that along with a healthy, normal measure of disgust.
But I teach Shadow Work. I teach understanding, compassion, curiousity. Even when I don't want to, I am compelled to look deeper ... because there is a person in there. Again, I do NOT condone the actions of any individual who harms someone else, physically, emotionally or psychologically. But I am really curious. In a brief chat with my fitness teacher I said I was still feeling a little appalled by what I was seeing but wondered what happened to this man that he thought this was an appropriate response to whatever was messed up in his life. She replied that she too was asking what made him choose this 'branch of the road' instead of something else.
We are so quick to judge and with the proliferation of social media, condemnation runs like wildfire. Do any of us have the courage to ask "how am I like that in my life?" We can self-righteously declare that we would never do THAT but what secret have we been hiding from the world? What thinking brought him to this place that for whatever reasons might have been our destiny?
These are hard questions and not easily tackled in a simple post. And they are worth asking. My sincerest sympathy and loving wishes go to the women who have endured this nightmare and to all victims of crime. And yes, also to those who made choices that will forever label them as evil. If only they had the inner wisdom and outer guidance to choose differently. If only.
For all the horrible things that we humans do to each other, we are all still human. We were all born with the potential to do great and good things. Some of us just took a very wrong turn. When the shocking news emerged from Cleveland about three women escaping an unbelievable horror, I admittedly felt anger at the accused. And I still feel some of that along with a healthy, normal measure of disgust.
But I teach Shadow Work. I teach understanding, compassion, curiousity. Even when I don't want to, I am compelled to look deeper ... because there is a person in there. Again, I do NOT condone the actions of any individual who harms someone else, physically, emotionally or psychologically. But I am really curious. In a brief chat with my fitness teacher I said I was still feeling a little appalled by what I was seeing but wondered what happened to this man that he thought this was an appropriate response to whatever was messed up in his life. She replied that she too was asking what made him choose this 'branch of the road' instead of something else.
We are so quick to judge and with the proliferation of social media, condemnation runs like wildfire. Do any of us have the courage to ask "how am I like that in my life?" We can self-righteously declare that we would never do THAT but what secret have we been hiding from the world? What thinking brought him to this place that for whatever reasons might have been our destiny?
These are hard questions and not easily tackled in a simple post. And they are worth asking. My sincerest sympathy and loving wishes go to the women who have endured this nightmare and to all victims of crime. And yes, also to those who made choices that will forever label them as evil. If only they had the inner wisdom and outer guidance to choose differently. If only.
