Today we are witnessing the dire results of practicing victimhood.
The incredibly brutal and bloody attack on Israel’s citizens, from infants to the very old, comes from a society that has convinced its young that they are victims and have no recourse but to exact revenge and exult in the atrocity.
In our own country, as some people seek to divide the populace with blame, we see amazingly anti-social behavior on the part of some of our youth: smash-and-grab robberies, flagrant shoplifting and car theft, young teens stomping on another child’s head, beating random people with hammers.
It seems some of these people believe they are justified in these attacks for a perceived injustice.
When we are divided up into groups, not only is our individuality overlooked, but we begin blaming whole segments of society as our oppressors. Divisions of rich/poor, black/white, indigenous/colonizers, old/young, college educated/on-the-job educated only serve to tear society apart.
It is so easy to blame someone else for our failures or bad situation. When generations of children are taught that someone else is responsible for their living conditions or failing grades, they are unable to see the self- determination that is available in the heart of each individual.
No matter our circumstances, it is up to each of us to choose how we will respond to fortune, whether good or bad. Do we choose to use our uniquely human gifts of “free will and reason” to find fault and punish or to improve ourselves and our surroundings in small and great ways.
Luann Byrne
Byram