Hi Everyone,
You know when you know someone, but haven’t seen them for a while, but then bump into them twice in less than a month? Sure, we’ve all experienced that. But what do you do when you see them do something that really makes you wonder? This is what I mean.
One day, as I was walking along, minding my own business, I saw someone walking towards me about 100 metres ahead. Normally I wouldn’t think anything of someone walking towards me, but this person caught my eye. They weren’t just walking. They were barreling down the sidewalk as if they were forcing themselves through their own personal demons, the ones they were screaming at. I am serious.
As the distance between us decreased, we recognized each other. They were someone I saw a few weeks earlier in a different setting. Taken aback by what I know they saw me see, I pretended as if I never saw them screaming profanities as they stormed at me. I simply told them they looked great and picked up our conversation where we left off. We spoke to each other for a few minutes, wished each other well and went on our separate ways.
Troubled by what I saw, I remembered something someone told me years ago. Because it was the only thing that person said that remotely made any sense it really stuck with me.
They told me that after a person has experienced a lot of trauma, or disappointment, heartache, loneliness, depression, betrayal, or a combination of the above and any other form of negative emotion a person can feel, they can, over time, if they allow it to, drive them crazy. Since that conversation, I have decided to guard myself from as many negative emotions and people who knowingly chose to inflict them, as possible. I suggest you do the same.
Another thing I’ve decided to do is treat the people in my society of two or more people, (one person being myself,) with more kindness and understanding. The reason for this is because no one ever knows (exactly) what someone else is going through. You know, what is going on is someone else’s life. Some people have more faces than days in the week, but not every face is the face they allow us to see. Just for the record, not every face is kind or understanding either. A lot of people are spiteful, downright evil as they pretend to be supposedly sane. (For anyone who doesn’t know what I mean, here’s the link to yesterday’s blog, http://arebelsrant.com/the-supposed-sane-people/ )
So what happened to the person I saw? I thought back to the first time we met. We both lived in the same building, we respected each other and they were always kind to me and my daughter. One day, something bothered me and I told them. They immediately understood. But did they understand because they were, and possibly still are, experiencing what I did all those years before? They like everyone else in the world had issues and they were dealing with them. But have their issues finally got to them? Are they now trying to deal with more issues than before? I don’t know for sure, but I am of the belief that they are trying to deal with one or more things.
I’ve already stated in a few blogs this year that I believe, due to what I’ve experienced in my life and what I’ve been going through this year, that I’ve been close to having a nervous breakdown. After you’ve been through as much as I have, and not at my own doing I might add, it can happen to anyone. I am serious. So did that happen to them? Someone I am very protective of because I refuse to reveal even their gender? I still don’t know and I am not about to ask.
I, rightly or wrongly, believe that if someone is vulnerable, they can be pushed over the edge. I also believe that there are people who prey on others for their own self-serving purposes. Did one or more people push my friend over the edge with their malevolence? Again, I don’t know. Again, I am not about to ask. But something happened to them in between those few weeks that had them behaving in the way they did.
Today I have two questions pertaining to this blog. The first is, what are you doing to protect yourself from the malevolence of others? The second is, are you yourself malevolent in even the seemingly smallest of ways, to put your self-serving needs before the emotional and physiological health of another? Think about both of those questions. I am serious. Take all day or week if you need to. Some people may need a month or longer. I am serious about that too by the way.
When you look at yourself in your own mirror and have to CONVINCE yourself you are NOT self-serving and that you do not prey on others, then you have some work to do. I am serious. The flip side to that is, if you look at yourself in your mirror and know that even though you could have EASILY taken advantage of someone, but chose not to, because it is a decision, you have compassion and understanding of the human condition.
Another question I have for today pertains to yesterday’s blog. The question is, are you one of the supposed sane people who are trying to drive everyone in your varying societies crazy with your insane behaviour? If you’re not into self-examination, not accountable for any one of your actions, the answer is yes.
On a side note: If I wanted to be pushed over the edge, I would make two telephone calls. One is local and the other is long distance. But since I value my sanity, partly because if I did lose my mind, I would be left in the “(in)capable hands” of the government those phone calls rarely take place.
Thank you for reading, A. Rebel’s Rant! ;D
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