grace in small, and not so small, things
January 27th, 2009 at 10:51 am (General)
first, the not so small:
my friend garma was jumped (as in beat the h-e-double hockey sticks up) at 2am sat morning on her way home from dancing with friends. it was random and sudden and *shakes head*. they were in front of her at a stoplight and claimed she hit them and demanded money. things went downhill from there.
she is really mostly fine. i went to see her yesterday evening after work. she looks bad, sure, but it took almost no time at all to get over that and see the garma who’s always there. of course she’s still shaken up, there are the same questions that come up for anyone in this situation: what could i have done differently? what should i do now?
there is also the acknowledgment that the people who did this have some very different ways of relating to the world than we do. they are the result of causes and conditions that she and i and most of the people we’re friends with have not experienced. i’m not trying to make excuses for them, they certainly had a choice, but trying to see their choices through our eyes doesn’t do them any favours either.
garma just wanted them to see her as a person. and they weren’t interested in that. they were interested in financial gain and a gain of power through fear. they got her ipod and her laptop and her messenger bag and a free tank of gas before her credit cards were canceled.
but they did not get power over her. the bruises will fade. the blood will not prevent her from loving the world as fiercely as she did before she stopped at that intersection. and that is grace. that is what they did not take from her.
the small:
- octiles – a game of the week that we both really like
- our old printer turns out to be colour
- warm afternoon sunshine
- taller desk – will hopefully lead to better posture
- hanging out and chatting with “evil” sparkle
- unexpectedly seeing an old friend
