In the era when friendships foster at bars and love is just a swipe away people can inflict copious amount of damage to one another. Sometimes in the name of love, sometimes for self-respect, sometimes out of a habit and sometimes unknowingly, people hurt others causing insurmountable damage in the process.
Sometimes the damage that we inflict on others is just a natural response to our innate fear of getting hurt again. We lock ourselves, our true self, in a deep dark corner of our existence when we are under attack the first time. We fight the battle with our iron swords and titanium shields, keeping our hearts locked somewhere safe. Somewhere so secretive that no one, not even we ourselves, can get a hold of it even if we want to.
But once in a blue moon when the sky is all clear, and spring is on its way to paint the meadow in bright new colours, a tiny seed germinates and it takes root within the stoned garden where we have kept our true selves hidden. We are marvelled by the beauty of this seed, which is now a sapling. We are gravitated by it and we nurture it as it turns into a beautiful rose bud. But as soon as it does, our past takes over and we fear that this new rose bud will hurt us the way the last one did. Haunted by our past experience, we try to take it off its roots so that it won’t hurt us. So that nothing hurts us. And in this process, we become the damage that was inflicted on us.
We forget all the values that we stood for before we were stabbed the first time. We forget that in the process of protecting ourselves, we are inflicting the same damage that was once inflicted upon us. We forget that we don’t need to be a part of the damage inflicting cycle. We forget that we have the power to stop this cycle of misery and bring some goodness and love into the world. We forget that we are stronger and better than we think we are. We forget that we are capable of doing great things, which includes spreading love and peace, around us. We forget that we are smarter and more powerful than the wounds that still pester inside our souls and keep us awake at night. We forget that after every night comes a bright new day. We forget to have faith in ourselves and in the universe.
We have to remember that the damage that was done to us wasn’t our fault. There is nothing that we could have done to change it, the situation, the people who wronged us, and to a certain extent our own response to the situation. But the damage we inflict on others is on us. We can try to justify it saying that it was our past wounds or fears that caused the damage to others this time, but if we do that we are no better than the people who hurt us in the first place. We cannot control others’ response but we can control what we do to others and what we let happen.
There is light at the end of tunnel. There is still hope for everyone. You just have to have faith and try to be better than the damage that was done to you.
