I believe in the goodness of people and I do not say this lightly. By this, I mean that I believe in the preservation of opportunity, peace of mind, and the potential for the common good to be a weapon against the enemies; corruption, oppression, and human suffering. And yet, it is amazing to me how quickly this good can become ugly and remind us of the ugliness that can exist in the world. That ugliness can trigger a deep reaction in us, one that embodies pure emotion. Let me unpack that...
This past Sunday, our dog Nola, was attacked by another dog for the second time since she's been in our possession. She had surgery and was left with a nasty wound, but is recovering well. (Our heartfelt thanks to those of you who have shared your love and healing energy). On Tuesday evening, while out for our evening walk with Nola, we ran into and confronted the owner of the dog. She promised that her 'husband' would call Dana to discuss the matter. Last evening, Dana received a phone call from the man -- her ex-husband -- asking Dana to meet him in person. Dana met him and the man proceeded to threaten him and also threatened to kill our dog.
And so here we are, fraught with this adrenaline rush of anger, knowing that we are trying to do the right thing and find a resolution. There are many things that strike me about this situation, a few of them being:
- I immediately felt the need to post the event on Facebook, as though by doing so, I could announce our injustice to the world.
- Peoples' insecurities manifest in ways that are very difficult to understand. In this particular instance, the other dog owners know that we are in the right and know that they owe us money, but have relented to using hostility, threats, and bullying to 'win the battle.'
- Emotion is such a tricky thing -- it forces us into patterns of behaviour that are otherwise foreign to us and this can be scary. Several of my friends quickly commented on my FB status saying words like 'asshole' and 'crazy.' I admit, that I initially reacted in this way too. BUT, after allowing that initial range of emotion flow through me, I realized that I felt sorry for the man. I wanted to help him understand his behaviour and to figure out what made him this way.
I was watching the news this evening (PBS NewsHour -- of course), and suddenly, it gave me a heightened perspective. We occupy such a small part of the world, as individuals that collectively establishes this enormous crazy-wonderful-beautiful-heartbreaking-unpredictable planet. I would urge each and every one of us to acknowledge the emotions that flow through us and to understand them for what they are and to then release them...For there is so much more to worry about and to focus our energy on. Our work towards the betterment of ourselves and humanity is never done. So why not start where we are...
[Clearly, I could never be on twitter. I have problems with being concise.]
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