Healing Terrorism
Richard Shulman
Written Sept. 16th, 2001
The events of Sept. 11th have reminded me of the importance of choice in my thoughts words and deeds. It is this kind of event that forces us to delve deeply into questions of good, evil, and the need to have an understanding of how to face and work with a destructive force in such a way that we don’t perpetuate a spiral of violence. For in the desire for retaliation or vengeance we are only energizing the pattern of misunderstanding and hatred which leads to violence.
How do we say no to what we don’t want without creating a backlash, and more of the same? I believe that Life is constantly modeling solutions to our large scale problems through the personal lives of individuals. The following story seems relevant as one of the puzzle pieces of a larger perspective on the events of Sept. 11th. It tells how I was guided to dissolve and heal a seemingly threatening situation in my own life.
Three years ago, when I moved into my present house, I was faced with a situation which I didn’t know how to deal with. The previous family had had a bad relationship with some of the neighborhood kids, and the kids were used to targeting this house to relieve their frustrations and to create excitement. It seems that the kids were learning about the energies of harassment and would try to outdo each other to get a rise from me.
I recognized that on some level the kids were serving me to get in touch with some very painful memories of my being teased as a child, and I did my best to come to terms with and heal the memory.
At one point, the energy the kids were projecting at me took on a different and dangerous tone. It was as if we were reliving a drama from Nazi Germany. Being Jewish, I picked up on the energy right away. After an incident where the kids were mocking me, I went into prayer and asked what I should do. The clear answer was to do nothing.
I waited and tried not to give the situation any energy, except to acknowledge that I was experiencing an opportunity to heal some issues for myself and to therefore open a door of healing for others.
As if by appointment I found the ringleader in my front yard one day. He said something about being my enemy. I answered that I was not looking to be his enemy, and that if he was willing, he might find that I could be his friend.
A few days later he knocked on my door and asked me if I was Jewish. I told him that I was, and that I honored all the religions. After I said yes, he said that he was studying World War II in school and he wondered if I understood why the killing in the concentration camps happened.
I invited him to sit with me on the porch step and told him that I had thought alot about these things and that my understanding of those events was difficult to express. I tried to explain that when someone is afraid to look at something in themselves they tend to project what they don’t like about themselves onto another person. They then think that if they can get rid of the other person, they wouldn’t have to feel what they are afraid of.
He then asked me if I knew anyone who had been there. I said yes, and mentioned that some of my mother’s cousins had been killed in a concentration camp. When he heard this, something changed in him. It was as if he realized that he was not the only one that knew suffering.
Within a week he came over again and explained that his roller blades had broken, and that he was looking to do some yard work to earn money to buy a new pair. I took the opportunity and he did some work for me that day. When I asked him a few days later how his saving was going he explained that his father had helped him get a new pair. I was grateful that he had realized that I could care about what was important to him.
In the meantime, the harassment gradually stopped. The kids who had learned that they could get ‘brownie points’ from the ring leader by ringing my doorbell and then running away found that there was no energy in it any more and stopped.
It is my hope and prayer that everyone here in the United States, including those in our government, and throughout the world will use the opportunity of the events of September 11th to look at and understand the relationship between the little wars inside each of us and manifestations such as this.
I pray for the strength and compassion to hold the energy of inner peace/outer peace, and I choose to behold all actors in the drama with equal compassion, recognizing that suffering begets suffering no matter what the story is behind each participant’s drama.
I pray for the common recognition that all life is precious. May understanding replace the unconscious thirst for vengeance. May appreciation come from understanding ourselves and others. May the Love that exists between all beings be unveiled as we learn to appreciate ourselves and others. May wisdom guide the expression of love between all beings. May Wisdom, Love, and Power in balance create manifestations for the Highest Good for all beings. And may all remember that we are creative beings, at one with All That Is, and that we can create what we want in our lives. I am choosing freedom with responsibility, awareness with love, and truth with kindness.
Honoring the Divine which lives in you, I wish you peace, love, wisdom and happiness.
Richard Shulman
