Friend or foe, who gets to decide?

Photo by Bryan Minear on Unsplash

This morning a beloved family member told me about the attacks in the Middle East, one side shot missiles towards the other side, and the other side retaliated by bombing……….and it goes on, with sanctions, more attacks and mean poisonous words …………

 

How powerful is the story we tell ourselves whether someone is a friend or an enemy can immediately drive our words and behaviour.  It drives the violence we inflict on another, whether the other is someone different, of a different religion or country, or whether that someone is a close family members (many murders are committed by family members to each other).  It also drives our compassion and understanding for each other.

 

It’s a story we tell ourselves.  Who gets to decide who is a friend and who is an enemy? Are we allowing someone else to dictate to us how we should decide?

 

If we tell ourselves you are a friend. We want to hug you. We want to feel love for you. To make you happy and help you lessen your frustrations and struggles. We want to smile at you………..

 

If we tell ourselves you are an enemy. We give ourselves permission to turn the other way when our state sends in bombers to bomb your family. We want to feel hatred for you. We want to punish you. We deny yours and our own humanity………….

 

I am curious, are we able to show up in the world today by seeing everyone as a friend, even those who have committed crimes in the past? I am curious, if we invite everyone into our heart, would we be able to feel compassion when the autopilot tells us to feel alienation and anger?……………….I am curious……