We live in a world of monsters. Despite the reassurances that your parents gave you, the monsters are quite real, and we really need to figure out a way to keep them from eating us.
These monsters take many forms. Some are formed from our imaginations. Others are centerpieces in our stories. Some are created by our own bad decisions, individually and as a culture.
Boo!
The 'simplest' to deal with are the ones from our imaginations. These are often manifestations of our fear of the unknown. As a kid, it might be the shadowy closet or the creaking under the bed. As an adult those monsters might be brought on by our fear of loss, personal failure or despair. These can become deadly serious issues if they are not beaten back... but we can beat them back. As a kid, our parents can save us.. later in life it can be our partner, a doctor, a teacher, or a friend. Relying on those bonds can help save us from our worst fears.
The monsters in our stories we actively seek out. They are the beast to be defeated or the serial killer to be caught. We seek these monsters out so that we can be scared by them, only to watch as the hero swoops in and makes everything right again. This kind of monster is created to reassure us that no matter how bad it seems, the world can be made safe again, and that all is not lost.
Yay! Our Hero!
I have written another diary where I talk about our dreams of being that hero, and the twisted way that manifests itself in our culture. While this kind of hero emulation can create other kinds of monsters, that isn't really what I'm thinking about right now.
It is the monsters we created through the consequences of our collective decisions which are on my mind now. To me, these are a much more serious problem. Unfortunately, we have lots of these kinds of monsters. We have domestic violence monsters, child molester monsters, drug dealer monsters, desperate people with nothing to lose monsters... and then there are the monsters that we created on purpose.
We had the best of intentions, we really did. We had justifiable reasons for making those choices. At the time, it kept some other monsters at bay. Nobody would fault us for that... yet here we are.
Now we have this Frankenstein's monster stomping through our streets and leaving blood and carnage in its wake. We have villagers and pitchforks and fire.. and we did this to ourselves. We now have to figure out how to deal with this monster before it eats us.
More after the puff of dragon breath.
Read More