Today Girard writes about the connection of this violence to all of us. The unveiling of mimetic violence has a more and more powerful influence on our history and on the entire modern world. Hidden victims in societies are continuously being brought to light - the consensus against them always dissolves after a while; slaves, lower class, different ethnic folks, differing religious backgrounds, gender differences. We bring to light the mimetic violence and see that it does not own the day anymore. Unfortunately, injustice and arbitrariness are still with us. Forces continue to try and nullify our concern for victims. The victims must be seen. They cannot be covered over by well-positioned arguments that make it easier to point fingers. The victims must be seen. Our own personal interests cannot be allowed to cloud the picture and rationalize why there must be a victim. There will always be victims who are shut down and trampled upon in order to maintain differences. In those differences, we often make excuses to act as we do - usually that is not to benefit others. Most often, differences are accented in order to benefit our side of the day. It makes it so easy to fall into that pattern of mimetic violence that is rooted deeply into the human experience and story. I am realizing more and more that the victim is not always the lowly one. We are also masters of making victims of anyone. That is disturbing to me because it means I must maintain a vigil against the violence that comes so naturally - a violence I condone because it is against 'that or those' bastards! Ha. Connection: So, we are invited again into the light. It is not always a pleasant journey. It can be quite painful because it reveals the dark side that we never want to show. Therefore, we usually do not acknowledge that it is right here with us. We are invited into the light that is always available and present before we even realize we need that light. As you walk with us, open up the pathway of your grace and empower us to enter into your love and be that love. Amen. |
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