Scars of Statism

Everyone has some kind of scars. I have a scar on my shoulder from an encounter with an armadillo, and many scars on my left hand due to knives held in my right hand.

I would imagine everyone also has psychological scars. Including scars from statism in our pasts.

Most of us were statist to some degree at some time in our lives. Some more than others. And everyone has been exposed to statism. Like any trauma, this leaves scars which are sometimes noticeable to observers.

You can’t be involved in a cult, or exposed to it continually, without taking some damage to your psyche.

I can sometimes notice my own scars of statism, and it’s even easier to see them in others.

Mine show up in knee-jerk emotional reactions. I recently felt one scar when I went into the library and was once again overcome with the desire to wrap my hands around the throat of the evil little loser who shot it up last year, killing one of my friends. I’m opposed to imprisonment, but I still feel the desire to make that little vermin suffer. Even if it’s in a way I oppose but can’t abolish. I realize that’s one of my statist scars showing up.

Of course, I’d rather they set him free and let everyone know who he is, what he did, and let nature take its course– I wouldn’t participate, but I wouldn’t help him. But it is what it is, and none of it is in my control, anyway. Other than my reaction, which isn’t good.

I do my best to not focus on the scars, mine or other peoples’, but to see how the person has managed to overcome and grow, in spite of the scars. Everyone is scarred; no one has to spend their life dwelling on it.