“What we are reluctant to touch often seems the very fabric of our salvation.”
― Don DeLillo
Who are you reluctant to contact or acknowledge? How might they be an agent of your salvation?
2 thoughts on “What We Won’t Touch”
Comments are closed.
“What we are reluctant to touch often seems the very fabric of our salvation.”
― Don DeLillo
Who are you reluctant to contact or acknowledge? How might they be an agent of your salvation?
Comments are closed.
Do I have to touch spiders??
My mother, with whom I have a very strained and unsettled relationship. My father passed last spring and I have reluctantly become closer to her out of respect for his memory. She is a very difficult person on a good day and has managed to alienate almost everyone who gets too close. She was also very abusive to me as a child. Those memories don’t really ever go away. You just learn to live with them. I don’t want to be unfair, so I will say that in some ways she was a very responsible parent and she did try to do right by me, even when her shortcomings overshadowed the good.
Now, in my father’s absence, I try to provide her with some emotional support and companionship. This new incarnation of our relationship has taught me what it means to truly forgive someone and how letting go of anger and resentment can be personally liberating. She hasn’t really changed much since Dad died, but I can see that she is making an effort. Like anyone else, she deserves to be loved. Because of who she is, I also have a greater appreciation for my Dad and the patientence he had toward all of us.
Some of life’s lessons do come from places we would just as soon avoid. I think the lessons I am learning now might be some of the most profound ones to date. Becoming your “parent’s parent” brings you full circle to what it means to care for others unconditionally. My UU faith has helped make that possible. It’s why my religion matters to me.