Ashes & Dust ...
Let me teach you a few words in Arabic. Ashes is "Ramad" and Dust is "Turab" which also means earth, the soil, and "Turba" may also mean tomb or more exactly the grounds where someone is buried. Ramad and Turab is what Ramadi looks like today. Ramadi in the Anbar province. The hated Anbar, part of the "triangle". The ever so despised Anbar by both the Americans and the Iranians. The hatred was most evident today. The American Forces - wait, I take that back - they are not forces, they are cowards. The American cowards bombed Ramadi today. Many homes were demolished. A family of thirteen was buried under the rubbles. More than 26 civilians were killed, out of which 4 women and several children. Two infants, the youngest was 1 month old. Men rushed to the ruins trying to rescue whatever human form they can find. Bare hands, rugged, dust covering their faces and hair, digging and digging... Most had nothing but a shirt on. No vest, no sweater, no n
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I can identify with what you say on so, so many levels, it's pretty scary to see it in black and white...
Yes, when Lambs have been finally pushed with their backs against the wall, they CAN ROAR.
You take my breath away! None of us should come close to experiencing what you describe, but many of us have - especially the strong, the "whole," as you say. My personal experience began with such a father but came to involve both other individuals and organizations. And yes, it applies to whole countries, as you say, because some persons are 1)so empty and twisted and 2) so powerful that they can delude others and take it to this level.
I take exception to only one phrase: "If you dig deeper, you will find a sense of entitlement, of haughtiness and arrogance and a total disregard for the Other, because in his mind the Other does NOT exist." While the mask of entitlement, haughtiness and arrogance is obvious, it is only a mask. Behind it is the void, of which you speak, but of which the psychopath is unaware (because they are fearful cowards, if the truth be known - and fear is the operative word). I know this from chilling personal experience which I, like you, have taken a very long time to process and which, in the end, made me indeed "roar"!
Bravo to you, this expressive, beautiful woman. You have made me feel understood on a subject one can rarely discuss for it takes one who has experienced it to understand, regardless of the level. And I do understand the entire meaning of your beautiful essay - and agree! And I am more pleased than I can say to hear this experience given words of such depth, nuance and truth.
As always, thank you.
No baby is born evil.
Each of us comes into this world with a desire for Life, for Good, for Love, for Harmony, like a "seed" planted in him/her soul.
The difference is: some of these "seeds" are blessed with a good "soil" and plenty of sunshine and rain, and bear flower..others are cursed with an arid, parched, barren desert, and end up unrealized and forgotten...
This does NOT "justify" anything, but it does "explain" a lot...
I am glad you were able to find some "comfort" however creepy it may feel at first, in that article.
I also hope that you are roaring like a lioness.
The sonata of the "silence of the lambs" ?
Thank you but I did not feel it to be a sonata, more like an exploding symphony.
Thank you !
Only those who go through "the chilling experience" understand it.
Back to the post - when I said " in his mind the other does not exist" - What I meant is that through this process of "objectification" the other no longer exists, hence the psychopath can go ahead and fragment and disintegrate the "other". An object is seen as devoid of feelings, senses, and humanity...a perfect rationalization process to the psychopath to do what he "needs" to do.
I agree to some extent only.
I find your line of argument too easy. Many people have gone through hell, their fall as you like to call it, yet they found no need to repeat the pattern, and opted instead for a consciously chosen different path - Call it Resilience or call it SELF HONESTY or whatever...
I am very weary of theories that somehow by trying to understand, gives some sort of " unconscious alibi".