Currently, the Facebook-o-sphere is blowing up with quotes and memes of goodness and positivity in retaliation to the bombings in Boston. I also just read of a mail attack that happened today: Ricin sent to a Senator.
This weekend, I ran a marathon at a fundraiser for the families torn apart by the Connecticut shooting. The speakers before, and the message throughout the run, was of overpowering evil with good deeds. It was a truly humbling event running past the mile markers, all with the victims' names written on them.
Maybe it's the renegade in me that generally goes against the population, but I see all of these positive messages and images and quotes from Gandhi all over the internet, and I can't help but think differently.
What if we are going about this the wrong way?
Stay with me.
I hate that all of these things are happening in our world right now. Perhaps we are missing something. Things aren't getting better as we continue to keep sharing a picture of a candle on Facebook, nor are they getting better because of our fundraisers after every major tragic event. Quite the contrary, actually, as we seem to be facing a new and larger crisis every month.
What if by being so positive, we aren't being real? What if we really are in dark times, and this fake light we attempt to cast takes our vision away from our goal of a better society? What if things need to get worse before they get better?
What if we fought evil with evil?
What if we treated savages with savagery?
What I am trying to say is...maybe at our root, we are really monsters, stuck behind the bars of societal expectations- limited by what the world thinks we should do. What if we are too civil?
What if we let the fake light fade, and allowed our own darkness to prevail when bringing criminals to justice?
What if we are more productive and powerful when angry?
What if it's time to let the beast out of the cage?
kp
