Have you seen the Netflix series called 13 Reasons Why?
It recounts the 13 reasons why this teenage girl, Hannah,
committed suicide. She left behind tapes for the 13 people
who hurt her to listen to after her death.
In essence, she was bullied and sexually harassed by her
peers, given poor guidance by a school counselor, and the
final straw was being raped by a football player.
It’s an intense show as it addresses tough issues of suicide,
rape, bullying, sexual harassment. Hannah’s mother sues the
high school for not having a better handle on her daughter’s
welfare and safety. She lost to the school.
What astonishes me about the series is how little our teens
communicate with us as parents. I consider myself to have been
very close to my daughters when going through this phase
of their lives, and they DID share a lot with me. I was lucky.
Kids won’t talk for many reasons. They may be ashamed
of their behaviors or who they are. They may be trying to protect
us as parents.
Hannah felt isolated, alone and hopeless her situation
wouldn’t improve. So why am I bringing this up?
Because I believe what is happening in our world right now
is similar. There is a lot of bullying going on, especially on
social media platforms. It’s so easy to hide behind the Facebook
or any other SM venue, and spew out mean words if others
don’t agree with us.
Yesterday I was forwarded a video from a trusted friend about
a Houston doctor who’d gone to Washington, DC to proclaim that
certain drugs worked effectively in treating 350 of her covid patients,
some as old as 92, some with diabetes, and none of them died.
I excitedly shared this video because I felt it was good news. I
realize that there is a lot of bogus information out there on the
internet, but what she said rang true according to a lot of other
information I’ve heard over the last several months.
I got some “unkind” responses. It’s OK that people disagree
with me. I don’t like it though when I feel bullied into believing
another viewpoint. Yes, they claim to have the real facts based
in REAL science, and called this doctor a quack and made her
seem crazy for practicing medicine in some strange ways in
other areas.
But here is the deal. I have READ A LOT about covid. In the
beginning I was reading main stream inputs, and it was very
scary. But then other reports from trusted sources of mine that
I’ve established rapport with over years started to trickle in.
They began to say some very different things, from what main-
stream was reporting. I was taken aback. But I listened because
I wanted to learn more.
So when I saw this video of this doctor, it was more in alignment
with what I’d been hearing than the main stream.
And this email is NOT about who’s on the right side of the
covid/mask argument. Who is right? None of us can know
everything that is going on. I consider myself intelligent,
and I trust my intuition about people. So I’m going to do the
research and trust my own inner guidance system. Full stop.
Can we as a society calm ourselves down a bit and really
begin to listen? I think what we will find is that we all want
the same things—love, peace, happiness, financial security.
Can we agree please on that? Most of us are good people.
We aren’t out to harm others. That’s not to say that some
people aren’t bad humans, because I believe a small % are.
I suspect that if we were forced to sit in the same room with
people we believe are opposite of us, and we were fed the
same information, given the same foundation of facts, we’d
probably arrive at many of the same conclusions. We’d treat
people with love and respect.
What if we started to give each other the benefit of the
doubt, to assume that where the other is coming from makes
sense TO THEM, even if we don’t understand them.
When we do this in the personal realm of relationship with
ourselves, I call it being a Loving Self-Advocate. We give
ourselves the benefit of the doubt even when we don’t understand
our motives or thoughts.
We will never know all the facts about what is going on in this
world or in the after life. So we might as well just focus on what
we want to create.
I can speak only for myself. I want to create connection within myself
through the Divine. I want to have faith that I’m OK and everyone
I love and care for is OK, those who still live and those who have
passed beyond this world. I want to trust myself, God and the process
of life.
Tell me. What do YOU want to create? How do YOU want to perceive
this crazy thing we call Life, that is so painful and at the same time
gorgeous and thrilling?
I am grateful for my breath, my experience, to interact with you here.
Love,
Angie
