Classic DF – A Parable of Pain

I get alot of e-mail and even more posts on other web pages about my social commentary posts. It’s is thrilling that people think I’m writing about them, BUT unfortunately none of the last five posts here are about any unless so noted. So stop e-mailing me about them! However, if it makes you feel special, you can pretend I’m writing about you. Today, however, I would like to write today about something specific. It pertains to something that has troubled me for approximately two days now. I want to talk to the public for a second here… the non-biased, I don’t really know you, but I do read your web page people… about some stuff I’ve been contemplating. If a friend of yours were to suffer a debilitating injury, one that in effect takes most of his life away from him due to mobility issues, how would you treat that friend? He/she is bed ridden. He/she suffers constant excruciating pain that is reminiscent of being stabbed with a knife repeatedly. The pain is so intense it keeps him/her awake at night and ruins any hope of performing manual tasks/labor the rest of their lives. In effect that injury has left them disabled. Now, would you mock someone in a wheel chair? Would you call someone a retard because they have problems adding numbers? Would beat up a paraplegic just because they couldn’t fight back? Obviously, barring personal issues, no. Now, lets say there was personal issues, but out of the goodness of their heart (and because they are a real friend) they ignore a large dispute and conduct themselves with good conduct around that person. However, the person who is picking on them won’t let things go and continues to harass your friend. They drive by your friend’s house and attempt to destroy their personal property. Now your disabled friend never fights back, in fact he turns the other cheek always. He/she always walks away and when his/her friends want to kick the crap out of the harrassers he/she pulls them away worrying that it won’t solve anything. In short, your disabled friend is a nonviolent pacifist. Now your harassing friend continues to mock your disabled friend. The harrasser won’t harass other people because he/she is scared of those other people and tends to run away from a fight crying. The harrasser knows that they can take advantage of your friend’s disability and uses it to vent their frustration with their pathetic lives. You got all this so far? Good. Now you want to be friends with both these people. You have been friends with both of them for a long time. So you never take a side. Now, one day in a public place while eating with your disabled friend the harrasser shows up and start to belittle your disabled friend. The disabled friend gets up with his other friend walks away. Well, you go to hang out with your harrasser friend and he/she starts immediately making comments about your disabled friend as he/she limps out in pain. Is that funny? No, you feel bad, but you don’t want to lose a friend. What do you do? This is what has happened to Daemon Immortalis… he suffered a horrible injury that has left him disabled indefinitely. Due to a lot of betrayal by ex-friends he has been harassed and made the butt of jokes. His friend, Rock, has found himself in a predicament where he is stuck between three groups of friends. Rock doesn’t want to lose any of them, but may have chosen his path by proxy. I don’t know how you would feel as an unbiased reader, but I know plenty of biased opinions. So here is mine: selfishness can only create the self centered disillusioned world that currently these malicious harrassers live in. With that they have sealed their fate of decadence and misaligned hopes. I hold no pity for their final judgment and damnation is their legacy. That I can do nothing about nor do I care about their fate. However, I personally hold Immy in the highest of regards. When I had been beaten down and left for dead he was there. When I turned my back on him and came back a prodigal son he took me in. When I needed guidance or some one to confide in… he was there. Ever silent, willing to listen, to turn the other cheek and forgive my sins. In the end Immy is the best friend I have ever had. Aside from my wife, Melissa, he is the only who has consistently defended my opinions and sought to hold my honor in the face of adversity. He is a what all friends should be… always faithful. Immy did not choose sides. He did not choose to be disabled. He did not choose to be harassed and continually hurt. I am angry beyond any recognition and the only thing that stops me from confrontation is that I hold his wishes in highest regards and his wish is that I too stand silent. How then can you mock him? Immy has held the world up on his back and it has destroyed him… so is the fate of all good men. Immy has been put where he is right now and does not hold any one with malice. With that in mind how come it is so hard to figure out how to choose sides? Especially when it seems you may already have… the hard path is often the one you do not choose because it doesn’t seem viable. The hard path though is the one worth taking for a friend because they would do the same for you. Treat your brother like your brother… not your enemy…

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