Why - The Boston Bombings?
Monday, April 22, 2013
WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN By Francis William Bessler Laramie, Wyoming 4/22/2013 So, why did bad things happen in Boston last week? Why did two apparently somewhat “normal” young men decide to commit to a little terror and kill and maim fellow humans - with a couple of dastardly home made bombs? I suppose one could detail all sort of “reasons,” but in the end, there was only one “reason” - as far as I can see; and that one reason is a little thing called SHAME. Of course, many will disagree, but in my opinion, killing and hurting others ALWAYS stems from a sense of shame - not of others, but of oneself. No matter why one kills or hurts another, it can always be reduced to shame - again, self-shame. Shame is the foundation of all evil, in my opinion, because without it, no one would have any reason to either loathe themselves or loathe others. Shame is the great BLINDNESS that allows any individual to fail to see his or her own wonder - and then to take that emptiness into the world and just flail about - often intentionally murdering others in the process. Show me any case of abuse - and I will show you “shame.” That is, I can prove to you in every case that every single abuser lacked a sense of self-esteem. Amazingly, there is NO WAY I can abuse you unless I am not pleased with myself. If I am full of self-esteem and full of a sense of self-worth, there is no way I can abuse you. Why? Because in being so full of myself and my own worth, I would have no need of you to either enhance me or complete me. In “not needing you” to complete me, in terms of worth, then you need not fear that I will take something from you to complete me - including your life - as if in taking your life, I would be adding your life to my own. And yet, shame is precisely what our human race - and the many factions within it - are born to believe. When we pop out of our mother’s womb, it starts - and it never ends. We are constantly told we “must be ashamed” of this or that - about ourselves. What is that tale except to drum into our little minds that there is such a thing as good and bad - again, about each of us? We “must be ashamed” of ourselves because we are inherently a “bad lot.” We are bad, bad, bad - unless somehow we turn things around and start to be good. Then good can come into the picture, but it can only happen if we first realize that we were bad in the first place. We must “admit” to being bad before we can turn around and achieve some semblance of good. And as it begins, it continues. Good is seldom emphasized in our lives. For the most part, Bad gets all the press. Why, then, should we be surprised when one of us “bad guys” really acts bad? After all, bad “has to happen” for anyone to decide against it. Good cannot exist all by itself. Right? It MUST be preceded by evil somehow being overridden. Or so, many, if not most, believe - though not I! I see ONLY GOOD in life because nothing in a Creation from God can be bad. If you see bad where there is only good - and thus make bad out of good - I would say you are a fool. I would say you are “wasting” the good of life to find bad. In my opinion, Good should always stand by Itself - and should never be contingent upon bad - or upon having to overcome some perceived bad or sin - in any way. Ah, but we are so quick as to punish the bad ones because without such punishment, once again, good cannot triumph. Thus, as we DEMAND bad things to happen - and must preserve Shame for and to that end - we also DEMAND that some must be punished for being bad if others of us can hold our heads high and pound our chests and bellow - Look at me! Am I not grand for not doing all those bad things that other jerk just did! WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN like that which happened in Boston last week, I shake my head and say - why? But my why is not why those bad things happened, but rather why we let them happen? I know full well why those bad things happened. They happened because participants on both sides of the proverbial “good and evil” sides decided in favor of them happening. That is “why” they happened. They happened because the two young men in the current episode were probably taught that they “must be ashamed” of themselves from the day they were born. They were only acting according to character. Well, it is truly sad because that beginning is a humongous lie. No one should ever be told he or she “must be ashamed” of themselves. Why? Because it is not true. In truth, none of us are born in shame BECAUSE ALL OF US ARE BORN IN GOD and there is nothing about us that should be considered shameful; but if that is what we are told, then that is what we will tend to believe. What fools we humans are! We put on clothes & masks and we cover up the good - and yet we don’t believe we are covering anything that is good. We are really covering up the bad, the “shameful” - and that is why shame is so good. Good ole - Saint Shame! Without it, we would not have any reason to cover up the bad. So, it is God Bless Shame! - and God bless the sinner who knows he is a shameful specimen of existence. But all that shame - it does exactly what we should expect. It makes us do all sort of “shameful” things. Little shame just grows into big shame; and before you know it, “little shameful beings” turn into “much bigger shameful beings.” It is only a matter of growth. Shame starts little and then grows and grows and grows - until it begins to eclipse the shame of a subject and overflows into the world of others. Now, society thinks it really has something to resolve; but just imagine if society had never watered the seed of shame in the first place. JUST IMAGINE! Imagine popping into the world as a baby - and being told from the start that you are such an angel. Imagine never being told that you must be ashamed of yourself for any reason. On the contrary, Imagine being told that you should be proud of yourself as a Wonderful Creature of God. Imagine being hugged and kissed because you are deserving of such on account of your being really “inherently good.” Imagine being indoctrinated that there is no such place as Hell - and you have no need to fear such a place because it can only exist in the minds of those who believe in it; and a mind is not a place. Imagine hearing that there is only Heaven because Heaven is only being in the Presence of God and that since there is no place that God can be absent, Heaven must be present Everywhere. JUST IMAGINE! I was listening to Fox TV commentator, Bill O’Reilly, last Friday night on the matter of the Boston bombings. One of the young perpetrators was dead and the other was wounded, in custody of police. Bill said, WITH GREAT CONTEMPT AND ANGER: One of the brothers is already in Hell - and the other is soon to follow! That may not be his exact words, but it is close. And I was under the impression that a fellow Christian should not judge. Very Interesting! Hell! You can bet that Bill was taught “you must be ashamed of yourself” as a kid and you can be sure he was taught that if he is not ashamed of himself, he will go to Hell. You can be sure that he was taught that there is such a place called Hell - for bad ones to be discarded there in time. You can be sure, too, that Bill does not think he will follow those “other bad people” into Hell because he will have learned to be ashamed of himself and will not have done any evil things to grant him admission to Hell. And what would the dead brother think of that? In all likelihood, that dead brother probably thought he was being one of the “good guys” and was only doing his part to “wipe out those shameful ones.” That dead brother probably thought his action to “wipe out evil” would grant him some wonderful honor in his own Heaven. That dead brother probably believed in Hell too - and he probably believed that the likes of Bill O’Reilly must go there. So, there it is! Chaos on parade - all due in the end to a sense of SELF-SHAME! One of one Hell doing bad to one of another Hell - and neither one believing that they are ones in Hell. Amazing! Isn’t it? To each, his or her own, but I have long ago given up any belief in Hell - as a place. I don’t have to deal with it because I just don’t believe in it - or that it can exist - let alone does exist. Where is this Hell for which the dead brother and Bill O’Reilly have such fondness? Where is it? If you tell me I am going to go to Hell, hey where is it? And if you cannot provide me a map to this wonderful place - for someone else, of course - then do not waste your time telling me about it. OK? But Heaven! Hey, I think it does exist - and I can provide you a map right to it - to your own front door and back door and kitchen and living room and bath room and your yard and swimming pool - and your garden - and to the neighbors to the left and right of you and across the street. There “ain’t” no Hell because God cannot be dismissed from any place, but there is Heaven - simply because there is no such place as Hell. Now, ask Bill O’Reilly and the young dead brother if they agree. Where is Hell for them? One has gone on to find it probably doesn’t exist - AS A PLACE - but he has probably found that the other place - Heaven - doesn’t exist either. At least, not in the way of expectation. Given the young dead brother was somewhat of a radical Islamist, he probably expected he would be greeted by his Allah and then given over to 700 young virgins - or is it 70 - or 17 - or 7? It is unlikely, of course, that his Allah was there waiting for him and it is unlikely that even 1 virgin was there to say - Welcome, Brother! Here I am! Take me for your own - and give me children! And when Mr. Bill passes on, it is totally unlikely that his God will be there waiting for him - nor his Jesus. Bill will probably be on his own, just like the current dead brother. I am on my own too. I just didn’t have to die to find that out. I have Heaven Here. I do not need to find it in any number of virgins or even in a Jesus. Jesus does not need to save me because I have never needed to be saved - being full of God as we all are. How can one “full of God” need salvation? How can one who is “full of God” have any need for “more of God”? And how can I not be “full of God” if God - being truly Infinite - is everywhere and in everything? Did the young dead brother believe he is “full of God” just like me, however? Of course not. Does Bill O’Reilly believe he is “full of God” just like me? Of course not. I can do no evil because I see no need for evil. It may be as simple as that; but how long and how many lives must the dead brother and Mr. Bill live to realize that truth? I wonder!
Thanks! (FWB)