Imagine the terror


Imagine growing up in a home or community where things didn't go your way.  Or maybe they did, but for whatever reason, they didn't for you and you "turned out different" in some way that made sense to you, but it was and is rejected by many people around you.

Call it a learned survival skill, call it a choice, call it whatever - but you are you - and you discover there are people around you in the world like you and you find affinity with them and community with them. For the first time, you are yourself and can kind of relax.

And then different points in time come up where you and what you are or what you stand for is challenged and possibly threatened. All that you are and all that your community is comes under what you feel is an attack with the potential to cause harm in some way.

You band together with others who are like you - say the same things, feel similar things, verbalize your desire to push back against "the enemy" out there who threaten you and yours. You struggle to find people or things who will fight for you - you get to a point where you'll do or say anything to win - to live.

That's what's going on in culture around us now.  And both sides - or better said, all the different sides and POV's - are thinking and feeling the same thing and assuming the other sides or POV's are really wanting to threaten or take away your/their existence.

___________

Whether a person leans into what's right vs. what's wrong or the law of the jungle/might makes right, both sides/all sides revert to terror - internally within their own groups and internally within themselves.

Imagine the terror.

One of my blessings/curses is being able to hear and listen to people and understand where they're coming from, at least on a base level. 

It stumps me occasionally because I have principles and values I believe in and also hear and understand "the other people" - regardless of who they are - and I empathize with them.

One of the things I pray/ask God for on the regular is to be able to help people slow down, listen, and understand each other a little more and perhaps leave behind their habit of terror.

____________

So today, may you be blessed with a little quiet time in your car, at work, at home, or wherever.  

May you listen to your breath and feel your own heartbeat.

May you know the universe isn't against you.

May you know God is for you.

May you have peace.

You'll be fine.

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