It's Complicated.
This post is an excerpt from an extended reflection I sent to subscribers of the Cult of All Good Things. This reflection is in light of the attacks on Paris.
Will it ever get better? Not while we're alive.
The type of restructuring that needs to happen in the Middle East (or anywhere, really) will take generations born into new environments. Psychological change, while possible, is incredibly difficult and never completely perfect. The current generation of terrorists are not likely to change (maybe a few, but not many) - I mean, I once had a traumatic experience with tuna and I still can't eat it. To this very day.
So:
Should we just kill the terrorists?
What message are they trying to send?
What does it mean that I use words like "terrorist" and "they"?
To what extent am I just believing what the media tells me?
Oh how awful and complicated it all is. The only thing I can think right now is that none of this is about me. That this is a time for reflection, not within but outwards. What are the Parisians feeling? What's the perspective of the terrorists? What has brought this all about? Empathy is the word. Empathy is the thing to evoke in such situations. Otherwise, your self-absorbed opinion just makes you a narrow-minded, ignorant idiot.
Anyway, I anticipate this email has brought you down, but what's so wrong with feeling sad? Why is happiness more valued than sadness? Sadness and darkness are essential parts of what it is to be a human, and understanding that brings you one step closer to wisdom, perspective. It makes you real.
Love and Strength to You,
Amanda Kay Holstien, Sr.
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