Happy Hump Day, Everyone ….
The news nowadays have me baffled! How a teenager can “bludgeon the hands that feed, clothe, house and raised him” to death in their own home … and then have a party while the parents are dead in the master bedroom is beyond me …. All because they told him he could NOT have a party in their home in Port St. Lucie, FL!!! None of the neighbors or the teen’s schoolmates saw this one coming. One neighbor commented, “They were such fine people …. their demeanors were always so good!” (Drive by shootings in the news are at an all time high in Miami, and elsewhere, too!)
While I have never thought about hurting my parents … even after I had gotten a “whipping” from my Dad … there were days when I thought I’d be better off running away. Then I thought, “Where will I go?” To destroy the same people that raised you requires an extreme motivation, if anything at all. Definitely NOT because I couldn’t throw a party in the home that they were paying for!
My parents used to punish me by telling me to stay in my room and not allow me to go out to play with my friends. Sometimes, my brother Hank was in the room, but most of the time, I was alone. I never understood how much value is in that “alone time” until I got a little older and was abandoned by friends … girlfriends and others. I used to write a lot – poetry and short stories – when alone; mediation, though I didn’t know what it was at the time, was another thing I used to do! Later, I chose more unhealthy things to do when alone to “scramble my thoughts”, so to speak, until those things disappeared …. ONLY until the next day when the self-medication had worn off. Now, I know the value of being alone … so I can contemplate the blessings I have in life and not dwell on the things I may not have … Peace be still!
“Without solitude, there can be no real people . . . . the measure of your solitude is the measure of your capacity for communion.” – John Eudes
Today, I will welcome solitude. When the messages from myself are painful or frightening, I will be gentle with myself. (TOUCHSTONES, July 20th)
Meditate and pray … and be at peace with one another, especially your parents.
Yours always,
John I. Cook, Director
Educational Excellence 