The Remaining Shadow

Our age has sought to bring equality to the fore as no age before it. We have sought out shadows and fought to bring light. We have set up models, glorified leaders, and proclaimed our heroes.

One shadow still remains; the shadow that covers every human soul and is in need of healing: the shadow of woundedness.

Woundedness doesn’t speak to glory, but rather to struggle. Yet, in all the ways that we are similar, nothing unites us more than that fact that each of us has been wounded. Perhaps that is why many of us find Jesus so attractive.  He did not come as the sage of the ages, the invincible hero, or the radical leader of a new world order. He came as the wounded healer.

But what are those wounds? For some of us, it is hurtful events in life, betrayals of those who should have loved us, forgetfulness of those who call themselves our friends.

I believe that those wounds are more able to heal than the ones we forget. I am reminded in Sirach 24:21 of those wounds, as it says You who eat of me will hunger still, you who drink of me will thirst for me. It is as if we are being told that no matter what we accomplish, we will still have needs, we will still have emptiness, we will still want. And in our attempts to satisfy those wants, we often compromise. We often settle for the lesser satisfaction rather than find the deeper fulfillment. I believe it is this compromise that makes up most of our woundedness.

I believe when we remember this fact, we bring about a true equality. That is because, such honesty builds a true community, one that has truth because it identifies with what is the deepest commonality among us. I believe that only when we remember our woundedness can we truly stand together. Because when I remember this wound within myself, caused by my own decisions, can I have the understanding and compassion that accepts another's wounds. Only then does tolerance turn into empathy and acceptance of another. Only when I am aware of my own fragility will I allow another to have theirs.

Finding greater appreciation

It is true, that we appreciate something more after we lose it than when we had it in hand. I can think of countless examples in my own life, as I am sure you can too. There is no denying that losing somehow awakens new insights and thoughts in us. Looking back we find an appreciation, even a longing for that which we lost. This is true even if while we possessed it, we grumbled at our possession.

I don't know why this is, that loss makes us appreciate more. But applying that fact to life, perhaps we can find something good from suffering and trials. For what is suffering and trials but a removal of some of our peace and tranquility, a loss of what was? Perhaps (and I say perhaps) we suffer so that we may develop a different view of life, a view that includes greater insights. Perhaps suffering happens so we can appreciate more. Perhaps we endure so that we can become more transformed.

It's just a thought, hoping to bring something good to the pain we endure in life. For it is true that if we can understand something better, if we can find that little bit of good that can come out of sorrow, it lessens the pain somewhat  It gives it a value.