After watching the movie "Septembers Of Shiraz", I got inspired to write this piece.
Last night I watched a movie on Netflix that invigorated my soul. The movie Septembers of Shiraz took place during the chaos of Iran's revolution. The main character falsely imprisoned exemplified what can happen when people have humanity. People have become so self-absorbed that they allow themselves to inflict harm to others without blinking an eye. It saddens me deeply to observe the lack of humanity in plain sight. It appears that:
.Hurt people hurt people
.Broken people break people
.Damaged people damage people
.Wounded people wound people
.Bound people bind people
The question burning in my soul, how do we remedy such behaviors?
In the movie, the main character used his humanity to have an honest talk with the man that imprisoned him. He lovingly confronted his abuser by asking him questions that awaked his sense of humanity. I believe that is what saved his life. In the end, the man responsible for imprisoning him allowed him and his family to cross the Turkish border to freedom.
Just like the main character in the Netflix movie, I, too, have been subjected to mistreatment. I have worked with many mean-spirited people that went out of their way to inflict harm. I often ask myself, what did I do to deserve such treatment? I learned after soul searching broken, and marginalized people often hurt others. These individuals develop self-hatred that they project to others around them. I did absolutely nothing wrong.
It is not easy putting up with people dead set on hurting you. So how do you proceed when confronted with such a situation? I am no angel, but I had to dig deep into my Christian values. I could not ignore or remain disconnected from the needs of these individuals. Instead of trying to be too preoccupied with my hurt feelings, I surprised myself by having a heart-to-heart talk with one co-worker. After our conversation, he apologized. That exchange taught me a valuable lesson. Things are not always what they appear to be.
I want to be the person that makes a concerted effort to help and understand others. You can't always control when people deliberately hurt you, but you can control how you respond to the hurt. Seeking revenge will only aggravate things. I hope and pray this pandemic will be over soon because people are hurting very badly. Suicide has gone way up, especially among teens. May we all regain our humanity so we can all live more peacefully!
HOW INSPIRING...AND SO TRUE! THIS, DEPENDING ON THE EXTENT OF THE HURT THAT WAS INFLICTED, IS NOT AN EASY THING TO DO. BY NATURE, WE WANT TO 'HIT BACK'. BUT, I HAVE LEARNED...THROUGH CHRIST...WE CAN DO ALL THINGS. THE LEVEL OF TRUST MAY NOT EVER BE WHAT IT ONCE WAS BUT WE CAN AT LEAST PRAY THAT GOD WILL DO FOR THEM WHAT HE HAS DONE FOR US. NOW, TRUTHFULLY...I HAVE NOT GOTTEN TO THE POINT WHERE I CAN 'TURN THE OTHER CHEEK'. I FORGIVE AND MOVE ON BUT...I KEEP A DISTANCE BETWEEN ME AND THOSE THAT HURT BECAUSE I DON'T WANT THEM TO DO IT AGAIN. I TAKE THE HURT AS A LESSON AND AN OPENING TO SEE OTHERS CLEARER. I DON'T, IN FACT, I CANNOT...HATE...BY ANY MEANS. BUT I DO KEEP A SAFE DISTANCE SO THAT THE PERSON NEVER HAS A CHANCE TO REPEAT THE OFFENSE. THANKS FOR SHARING. HAPPY, HAPPY EASTER TO YOU AND YOURS! LOVE, BLESSINGS AND FAITH...HIS+INSPIRATIONS
The questions you've asked as you wrote your essay were answered at the end, simply because you realized what the symptoms were to elicit soluble conclusions. In reviewing the piece further, I wanted to dig deeper to see if you indeed extracted a level of understanding. I realized too, that the parameters you came up with ideally are the things people do to wrought hurt and malign souls, thus it may become unrepairable. I enjoyed it, and it was informative. Thank you for sharing!
I would place this is an article rather than a story. But you are right, people who inflict harm have often been harmed, themselves. It is not self-defense, more appropriate, but retaliation or revenge. Sometimes take it out on, not the oppressor, but on someone more easily accessed, weaker and strength of character. In other words, easier to bully.
When countries do it, they use their religion as a means of their abuse and dehumanize their adversaries by calling them names. When they go to war, except for the Geneva Convention, everything is game including killing civilians as potential threats.
What works, and what you have suggested, is gentle persuasion and taking abuse without retaliation of any kind. Forgiveness works. Nonviolent protest works; proven by Gandhi, MLK and others.
He Keeps Me is a devotional journey of revelation and insight birthed out of prayer.Searching the Word of God revealed the many ways that He has kept me and continues to keep me. Each day is an opportunity to recognize that God is mindful of you, eve
These song lyrics and art are tales, tides and twinkling lights - tunes telling stories of warmth and sun, city and sand, paths that lead, and the coins we can keep in the Karma Bank. Spirit's been bypassed for sorrow, dreaming of a better tomorrow .
