Hanging on our bathroom wall upstairs….
Soul Matters has this to say about resistance.
“Let’s start with the complexity.
Sometimes resistance involves bravely picking up a picket sign; other times it asks us to courageously put down our masks and expose who we really are. Sometimes it involves defeating the enemy; other times it’s a matter of noticing that treating them as the enemy defeats us all.
Resistance certainly takes the form of speaking the truth to power, but often what the world needs even more is for us to speak the truth in love.”
Bob and I are building a collection of water color prints from a company in Iowa called ‘StoryPeople’. (For more on them see the reflection about the Pirate Crayons.) I have discovered that the family company has split due to a very long and acrimonious divorce resulting with splitting into two competitive forces. For a long while I was very broken up about the whole thing.
These color prints have gotten me through some very dark times in my life and have brought me moments of deep and sincere joy. Yet, knowing that the family I have trusted with my fragility cannot even hold itself together shattered my sense of well being. Surely one entity is the enemy and the other is the hurt party? Surly one side is at fault and the other side is due recompense? Surely, now that I know the group is split I can no longer trust anything either party says.
Or,
I can resist that finality of judegment and see that what I have are two hurting groups that are trying to pick up their lives and put one foot in fron of the other? I can continue to speak my truth in love and support of these two hurting people?
~Lydia Patrick
Lydia, I love StoryPeople as well, and it hurts to hear of their divorce struggles. I have some of their prints and a small wall plaque as well. My friend sent them to me because I post them so often on FB and as a support to me in grief. You make so many good points here, but I am struck by why do we always feel we must take sides? Everyone has a story. Thank you for this post.
A conflict that grows out of proportion is out of control. I think it becomes so threating that it takes over both the emotional and intellectual sides that are shared by all. I have experienced this first hand in divorcing my brother . He will not come to the table with anything that could redeem him or stabilize our relationship. I’m ok with this because Feel & Think that the altercation was and is his responsibility. It was a direct hit on our family, a treason that would happen again if given the same factors and context. The 2 sides we see, we accept without taking a side. It’s a bumpy road!
The reason I share this is because there are some conflicts and personality traits that simply are not reconcilable. It’s better that they do not collide, but in knowing the conflict, the differences, we can choose our own with just a little more clarity.