If my findings are correct I think that it is safe to say that no matter where we are from or who we are all of us are at least somewhat damaged. I do not wish here to belittle or insult the really horrible tragedies that people have and are suffering in many violent and dysfunctional societies. An upper middle class Canadian teenager's angst about a hockey game is certainly nowhere near the league of a young widow caring for four children in a refugee camp, or a child soldier in Africa or a rape victim anywhere.
I do think it is salutary that those of us from privileged families who live in privileged countries do understand that we may be better off, but we are no better than those who really suffer in developing countries, or in our own still unequal society.
I do now realize from having just heard a particularly troubling segment on the As It Happens program on CBC Radio One about prisoners in Chicago who spent more than twenty years incarcerated, perjured and tortured by police into giving false confessions that I have forgotten to mention prisioners as among the casualties of trauma in our society. It is horrifying knowing that this still happens in the so-called Free World.
I tend to agree with nineteenth century Scottish author George Macdonald that we are a "race of miserables. I also believe that we have tremendous potential for being and doing good just as we do have the power to heal one another of the horrors that life inflicts on us.
How do we heal? In a country like Colombia, or worse, Venezuela, how do we heal? From our over privileged smugness and denial here in Canada-Heaven-On-Earth how do we heal? This is the most important question because only by asking do we learn.
I can only consider here my own path towards healing. I first of all had to recognize that I wasn't well and accept responsibility for my recovery. There were also supportive people, professionals and friends, standing with me. What they held in common was their love for me and their faith in me to recover and do well in life. Yes, I did have to take ownership and internalize this faith and love but I still for a period of time needed it from others.
Having done so well in therapy and recovery I have gone on to pay it forward, to repay what I had received, in a sense. This is the secret of love: it is the treasure that grows as we give it away. In an earlier post on this series I wrote that humility is the breeding ground of love. Well? It has to begin somewhere. Even if we don't think we're getting anywhere others do take notice, they watch, listen to and observe the words, deeds and behaviour of those who become healers.
We are not going to become an effective force, at least not in the near future, against crime, or for social justice, or for strengthening the best institutions of our culture. It is even likely that many of us who have become healers in our society will never live to see the fruit of our kind words, kind deeds and kind prayers. We have to do this in faith or it is not going to take root or bear fruit. But still, the more we act in love and faith towards the healing of others the stronger will be the groundswell towards real positive change. If we move forward the doors will begin to open. In the meantime our priority is to work on our own healing and wellness and renew and harness the best of our faith traditions, all viewed and focussed through the lens of unconditional love.
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