I need to be more serious about things in life.
You live in the real world, bad stuff happens, and people's whole lives and psychology changes. NO one ever notices though.
Things like homosexuality, child molesting, and STD's. These are bad things. But notice, how often society talk about them, jokes about them. Maybe to try and believe they're not real, or maybe because it's so easy to joke for them.
But the girl or boy next to you could be suffering, and your joking puts them on end. You wouldn't know.
The way they write it in books. Books like Frankenstein, where the doctor is haunted by his own creation, and the thought of even science physically hurts him. Yeah, that's real life.
Except it's not Frankenstein's monster. It's a guy's feelings towards other guys, a relative that did something terrible, or a bad decision one late night that you will never forget or forgive.
THINK ABOUT IT!
You could throw someone over an emotional cliff by half a joke. That emotional fall could send them to tears, to porn, to cutting themselves, or to even killing themselves.
My tone is dark, but this is real!
Jesus' love prevails, but you have to know about the real world, man.
I address this to myself, more than anyone else.
Interesting how you highlight jokes as being able to push people over the emotional cliff...it's true, and we never think much of it. I wrote a short memoir in a very similar vein of thought earlier this year, after being pushed off myself. It's painful, and getting back up is difficult. I'm glad that your post here is so direct and to the point. We benefit more from the truth than from delicacy of words.
ReplyDeleteHere's a short excerpt from that memoir... something that I am glad to read now, because God did give me the grace to get back up, and become more sensitive to others' and how my words affect them.
"I have fallen off of that cliff edge, and I have survived the fall. There are many dead and dying people down here in this dark chasm. I know that the one who stood with me before cannot hold my hand every step of the way, and that this is a trial that I must face alone. My soul and my mind are still intact, even if my heart is not. It is time to explore this dark chasm, and discover an exit.
This is a choice that I have to make. I can sit here in this darkness, and weep because I was not strong enough to hold on. Eventually, I will die. That is my first option. My second option is to refuse to permit my mind to mold with bitterness, self-pity, and fear. I can stand up and live, even if it means that I will have to do so with a scarred heart. I can always find a thread of sunshine, and sew up the wounds."
Keep writing. Honesty is invaluable.
RC