Every time I read these stories, the hope I have for our world goes down a couple notches and I begin to see the whole of reality the same way these reports depict it: a world filled with murderous, ravenous trigger-happy, knife-wielding people who have either lost complete control of their senses (and their hearts) or are so immersed in greed and sadism that their only objective in life/death is to exact maximum pleasure from the pain and suffering of others, for profit, for vengeance, for whatever. No matter what they may say, such acts are not rational and cannot be justified.
Still, there is no power in viewing these people as separate from myself. If conditions demanded, I might also engage in such acts knowing the full battery of human emotion and how with just the right triggers, I might snap and act against my better judgement. The best way for me to view a threat as no longer a threat is to understand its psychology and take it apart so I can see the life path that emboldened some of us to commit such atrocities. I've read books about how our brains and minds work, how the experiences of early childhood could impact our responses to circumstance in adulthood, how armed conflict and war can destroy our life-affirming spirits and create ongoing tragedies that spiral downwards towards an inescapable vortex where death shatters and scatters.
Where is god in all this, I sometimes wonder? Where are the angels that gather around the victims to protect them and give them the strength to fight off their killers and escape the profundity of the evil staring back at them?
I've read quite a bit on the whole theory of how our thoughts have the power to create realities. And I'm now trying to put that into practice - although most times I forget and respond to the news with worry and dejection, perhaps contributing more of that hate-filled gleam in our universe, so when tomorrow comes, we end up reading the same news of murder and mayhem over and over again. But what if we could respond in less typical ways in order to harness healing energy around these stories so the damage doesn't keep infecting our consciousness. Empathy automatically shifts our reactions to shock, anger, and dismay at the unnecessary loss of life. So, we turn to the victims in grief, and marvel at the audacity of the perpetrators in curiosity, horror, and contempt, soon to be replaced by outright condemnation of their vile acts.
What if we could nurture empathy for the perpetrators too? Would that, could that create the possibility of a transformation? How to empathize with such individuals? While I think we can all empathize with anyone, some of us have had life experiences that have compelled us to welcome that gift instead of shunning it. We are constantly placed in situations where we must make the choice between to love and to reject. Call me stupid, but I choose love, any and every time, regardless of whose eyes I'm looking into. I can't explain it, but that's been my inclination, almost automatic, since coming to an understanding of my own suffering, and learning to take accountability and ownership of that suffering. I have a great desire to understand everyone, and particularly understand those who have followed a criminal path, whether in war or in civil society.
I see the circle that connects us all, and have come to the conclusion that there can never be any such thing as "us" and "them", for, despite the uniqueness of our lives and environments, we all retain the same essential spirit. I've been able to look past what's on the surface of someone's persona, all their behaviours and bad tragic choices, and discovered that the ugly, messy, traumatized, and dazed parts of themselves failed to rob them entirely of their potential to seek redemption and do some good. But getting them to be aware of that potential is the challenging part because it requires that I get close enough to them to develop a friendship where trust, compassion, and love are the building blocks. It requires that I myself do not get eaten up alive by the person's destructive tendencies, and in order to prevent this, I hold space within the center of the loving energy that we both embody, the energy we were essentially born with.
I know this must all sound rather nonsensical since I'm not giving examples of what I mean exactly, but in a few months, you'll all see what I mean. Stay tuned for the presentation of my first one-person play since 2007's Shiny Ropes. Read the synopsis below, and you'll either think me as someone completely off her rocker OR you might see a little of what I'm trying to accomplish through the lives of the characters in this story - based on true life events - who have changed my life forever so much so that I have nurtured the ability to see everyone as part of myself, and to see myself as part of everyone. No separation. No finger-pointing. Only the following words resonate inside my heart and mind: "Yes, I see you, I hear you. And I know you and know your pain."
Peace.
Letters to a Dead Girl: Transcendence
During the second U.S.-led military invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, hundreds and thousands of Iraqi civilians were subjected to violent deaths as a result of an armed, foreign military presence. The deaths of civilians in this period saw a tragic increase from the first invasion of Iraq in 1991. The embattled region remains in chaos and its people deeply affected by the horrors they had witnessed.
Letters
to a Dead Girl: Transcendence is a one-person theatre production with music
about a U.S. soldier living out the rest of his life in solitary confinement
for crimes he committed while stationed in Iraq. The story of Private First
Class Leonard Purple is a profound and disturbing exploration of a troubled
American youth's indoctrination into military invasion, racism, occupation, and
violence. After receiving the toughest sentence of life without parole out of a
group of five soldiers charged with the rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager
and the murders of her family, he sits in a solitary jail cell back in the U.S.
as turbulent memories of the past invade his mind. In an attempt to take
accountability for his actions, Purple begins writing a series of letters to
Fatima Qureshi, the girl he had killed. What follows is an unexpected
transcendence where identities converge and then merge, and where Purple
suddenly finds himself on the side of the Occupied. As this alternate reality
unfolds changing the landscape of his prison cell, Purple hears the voice of
Fatima through his own as she delivers a repertoire of haunting ballads on
piano to reclaim the life she knew in one final act of resistance and
repossession.
Letters
to a Dead Girl: Transcendence has no entertainment value. It is not a show or a
spectacle. It is a story to remember and to honour the young spectres of war
and violence whose lives were mercilessly stolen, and whose spirits yet remain,
roaming in anticipation of liberation.
