Once I had a dog and I really liked this dog. He was a husky cross. He was not full bred Husky so he could not pull a dog sled efficiently with a team, so the owners gave him away. He used to pull a bale of hay through the snow on a small sled to feed my goat in Alaska. You could tell that he really liked do it, it was a type of fun for him.
The people’s kids who had him before me were mean to him while he was a pup so that he disliked humans. Anyway long story short he had a habit of running off and visiting my neighbor’s female dog. My neighbor complained about it and said that if it happens again he would shoot him.
After one particular incident I chastised him and his dislike turned to hatred. I had to put him down for fear that he would bite someone. This made me wonder what if humans were similar in making excuses for turning on each other after a series of abuses during their formative years.
I know that I suffered some abuses during my childhood and that I have a slight mistrust for people in general but I am not sure that these are connected. But when someone abuses a person as might happen in say the military or in a prison, that person could come out more aggressive than he or she went in.
I know that one question was raised concerning the incarceration of a mild criminal with major offenders making the mild offender more hardened but is it really due to the other prisoners or the management or both? Many psychologists believe that it is a choice made by the offender but just suppose it is more the result of total immersion in a viscous environment and a defensive mechanism? Also for some poor reach a breaking point because of frustration and turn to a quicker way to acquire financial gain.
I personally believe that you can push a person only so far than there is a safety mechanism in the psyche that snaps back. If we are creating a more vicious strain of harden criminals simply because we push farther than they are capable of handling. Whether it be parents, the drill sergeant or the school bully or cell mate or guard or abusive father or husband or wife, sooner or later something has to give.
Some turn inward and suffer in silence. They do not reciprocate but their inner unresolved issues clouds their perspective causing them further difficulties. It may seem silly but there is a simple solution that transcends all of their ills and that is forgiveness.
With this they can let go of their anger and hostility or unburden their inner suffering and get on with their lives. While it is difficult to point to these individuals that their world would be a better place if they forgive their transgressors it is fairly simple for anyone reading this to say to themselves, I will try this for myself.
Simply stated by the simple act of forgiving one can let go of their burden of anger and frustration freeing their hearts and minds and even their spirits of this mental bondage in one fail swoop. Their release will be felt almost immediately and while this is not the cure all it does however give back some part of one’s mental resources for other uses which upon observation we all could decidedly use.