I am no expert on the dark side of human nature. Frankly, it’s something I prefer to avoid, like I prefer to avoid mildew in my shower. So I clean my bathroom every week (Thursday evening), along with the rest of my home, whether it needs it or not.
If you want an expert on this subject, you might want to check out Debbie Ford’s work. I read THE DARK SIDE OF THE LIGHT CHASERS years ago, and just pulled it out again as I prepared to write this post.
Certain movies haunt me after I see them, so I’m careful what I put in my brain. Our brains react to something on screen - particularly if it’s well done - as if we have experienced it ourselves. (Although I’m pretty sure this would not apply if you have TWO AND A HALF MEN on while playing pool with your buddies, or a Hallmark movie on while working on a knitting project.)
While there are certain movies with plenty of violence I love (I’m a big HARRY POTTER fan, and the original TOTAL RECALL kicks ass, for example) I do tend to avoid violent movies. I’ve never been severely beaten or raped (in this lifetime anyway) although I do know people who have been. Yet even though I thankfully have no personal experience, the movies I see depicting these kinds of horrors impact me, physically and emotionally.
Recently…for no reason I consciously understand…all of this stuff has been coming at me regarding Nazi Germany, WW II and the Holocaust. There was a Corrie Ten Boom quote on Facebook that reminded me how much my Grandma Handke loved her work, so I ordered THE HIDING PLACE on my Nook. It is set in Holland during the Nazi occupation. Then there was a horrific image of Jewish “camp” survivors in a TIME magazine anthology. Then my fiancé and I watched THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS as we both had wanted to see it, knowing it would not be an easy movie to watch. Then another Netflix pick pointed back to the Holocaust from a newer generation. Then the theater movie we both most wanted to see, THE BOOK THIEF (look for Academy Award nominations, friends) was right there, again, in Nazi Germany. Then came the SOUND OF MUSIC live broadcast on NBC, which we watched as we decorated the Christmas tree. The movie was one of my favorites EVER. It is set in Austria during the Nazi occupation there.
It’s just so…odd.
Of course Nazi Germany is only one example of humans’ inhumane treatment towards humans. It happens everywhere, in different cultures, always has, and sometimes it seems always will. I could start with the mass destruction of Native American culture and then African slavery right here in the States, what continues with the Taliban, North Korea, the child sex slave trade, and keep writing for a library’s worth of pages if I wanted to. But I really don’t want to do that anymore than I want mildew in my shower!
Somalia alone breaks my heart. Pointing back to a movie – the pirates in CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (again, look for some Academy Award nominations) would have gained no wealth from hijacking that ship. They were told not to come back without the money; it was like recruiting volunteers for a likely suicide mission. This doesn’t excuse their deeds, of course, but I did leave the movie with a lot more compassion for people who are born into this awful situation in Somalia. And intense gratitude I was born in the USA – like, how did I luck out to be born here? – kind of gratitude.
I may be rambling a bit here in my attempts to delve into these consistent messages I am getting from the media. I remember one other thing…I just pulled out my journal where this was taped from a magazine article, shortly after 9/11. It was probably PEOPLE magazine: Some other performers had to speak out: Madonna, who wore an American-flag skirt at her Los Angeles concerts Sept. 13-15 (proceeds will be earmarked for families affected by terrorism), offered these thoughts on the attack: “each and every one of us should look inside our own hearts and examine our own personal acts of terrorism… It’s not just bin Laden, it’s all of us. We’ve all contributed to the hatred in the world today.”
I’m sure there were a whole lot of people who were really pissed off about Madonna’s comments that day. I get it. And I’m not right either. I am very rarely “right.” I get turned around directionally on a regular basis. I say things sometimes that leave me scratching my head going, “Did I really just say that?”
But I got what Madonna said that day.
We all have our “stuff.” I have made mistakes and have done things I regret…who hasn’t? Maybe the Dalai Lama has made it this far in life without having ever even said an unkind word to another person (do you think that’s possible?)…but I’ll bet even His Holiness has had unkind and unloving thoughts. He probably just prays about it a lot more than most of us afterwards!
Of course, I could be wrong…as I’m very often not right. J
I don’t know why I have been sent this message in so many different forms. What I do know is we are all human, and we all make mistakes. We sometimes make poor choices that have long-lasting consequences. We can never know why another person made a certain choice without having been inside their heart and their head experiencing their fears and their loves, in the moment they made that decision.
But we can know our own. We can learn and grow from the consequences of our own actions, whether joyful or painful. And we can look another human being in the eye – a person from Germany, from Honduras, Greenland, Canada, The United States, Africa, India, China, Scotland, Serbia or wherever – knowing we are all the same, imperfectly perfect humans.
If there is just one thing I can do to make the world a better place, it’s to be more loving in my own heart. –Laura Handke
Authentically Yours,
Laura
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