Every so
often in life you discover things, learn things, or stumble upon hidden secrets
and, when these find themselves at home in your wellspring of knowledge, you have
two very different reactions; you may often wish that you never heard them,
choosing to stick your head in the ground like the mighty ostrich or you
assimilate this knowledge gladly like the Borg do of a new unsuspecting crew. Rare does such information elicit a mediocre shrug
of disinterest. Both deposit knowledge
and sometimes one most look close to see the cost.
The revelations
of the later variety are great and happy and always bring with it some sort of
joy. These can be negative events or
knowledge but positive to the ear of the hearer for any number of reasons. Some of those reasons can be because we are
depraved humans looking for what can benefit us and what can work out to get me
what I want; jealousy and selfish ambition is what is at work here. Maybe the opposite is true and that
revelation is positive and brings with it joy because the simple act of the
knowledge being acquired is beneficial with no hurt to anyone else and that
makes it all the more sweet. Of course,
the two do not have to be separated and can play off of each other but that is perhaps
for another day.
Today I
speak of those unwanted revelations that make you uncomfortable, or angry, or
sad, or make the hair on your neck stand, or those that make your stomach churn
like the waters under a river steamboat.
You know the ones I am talking about.
Those revelations that so shake you that you feel you just went through
a massive earthquake while at the same time going through a rock tumbler. Those are the ones of which I address today.
Have you
ever been told something that hits you in the gut and knocks the breath out of
you? I think we all have. How do you react? How do you assimilate this knowledge? How do you move forward knowing this and
acting as if everything was okay? All
good questions and I think not all of them can be easily answered. Each of us is different, with our own values,
our own character, and our own set of life shaping events. We all think differently and we know it. “You don’t understand me,” is often true
because sometimes we just do not. We
want to comfort one another with this but realistically, we do not
understand. We want to but we do
not.
I digress
a bit because…well…I can. It is my blog
and so I do what I want.
Back to
the revelations!
I think
those bad/negative revelations (can also be unwanted) challenge us and motivate
us. They shape us and mold us. They confront us with ourselves and force us
to evaluate who we are, where we are, what we are doing, where we are going,
and yes…even what part we may have in this.
When we
evaluate we look at, examine closely, and even reassess ourselves. If life were just one pleasant event after
another, one positive revelation after another, how would we grow? Would we become dynamic or remain
static? We always second guess
ourselves, always seek the easy way, and we always want to be right but we need
to realize that it is the other stuff in life that builds our character.
