Tuesday, June 25, 2024

WHEN AN EYE FOR AN EYE LEAVES EVERYONE BLIND

 

A dear friend of mine was hurt, badly hurt, by the actions of colleagues who should have had her back.

At the same time, she was going through challenging family health issues, seemingly unrelated.

 

Her professional injuries were doozies. Her personal challenges were met with courage and steadfastness. She was too busy to think how to respond to her colleagues’ betrayal. There were other things to face and no room to digest their treachery. 

 

But once she came up for air, she, a gifted writer, devised a literary revenge of sorts. She would write a fictional novel about what happened.

 

She enlisted my help in brainstorming the characters and the style she might take. She was on fire, feeling creative and alive again. Ideas were pouring out. “What do you think about this?” and “I just thought about that” came pinging over the transom in rapid pace.

 

I was happy she was finding herself again. Writers process and digest through stories.

 

I was less sure about the vengefulness I felt gushing out of her.

 

I thought about the times I was done wrong. I didn’t want to hurt those who did it, but I did entertain thoughts of how, somehow, they’d be hurt and know how it feels.

 

I thought about how real healing has come to me. Only when I truly began to wish well for the ones who made themselves my (or my people’s) enemies, and gone to do us harm, did I find peace.

 

Real healing requires nothing less. An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.

PEACE.


5 comments:

  1. "Only when I truly began to wish well for the ones who made themselves my (or my people’s) enemies, and gone to do us harm, did I find peace.

    Real healing requires nothing less. An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.

    PEACE."

    Amen!

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  2. So well said. We poison ourselves with negative emotions.

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  3. Perhaps as she continues, she will come to greater understanding and compassion for the "villain" of her story and tone down his villainy. That's what happened to me when I wrote We Burned Our Boats. Also, you might be happy to know I came to your blog via my Blog List, as I saw it updated with the snippet, just as it's supposed to appear on my blog. The person helping me on Blogger Community kept giving me tips until finally we hit on the right solve!

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  4. Hooray for problem solved, Karen Jones Gowen :)

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  5. Yes, a good reminder. Thank you for being one of the peacemakers on this earth. We need more.

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