Yesterday, late afternoon, as the sun was
sinking in the west some thoughts were
sinking in my mind, about barriers.
We all build barriers. Some of them are
physical barriers and others are those
we build in our minds.
We build them to protect ourselves to
keep harm from coming to us.
Some barriers we can tear down after
the harm has immediately left us and
some barriers we carry for years.
I was specifically thinking of my
grandson, who at an early age began
to build physical barriers around
our home when he heard his Dad
was on his way to get him and he
did not want to go. And in
retrospect, I see that he was
building them not only in the
physical aspect, but in his mind
as well.
He would begin furiously by
grabbing whatever he could find -
belts, rope, his little table and
chairs, chairs to my kitchen table,
and would intricately begin to
weave a pattern with them. He'd
build one by the back door, or at
the landing by the stairs up to
his room and he'd say 'Grandma,
he won't be able to get through
this!'
When I think of that now, my
heart shatters as much as it did
back then. He has come such
a long way since then. He is
learning through the use of
words to stand up for himself.
We are working together to
learn how to empower in a
good way how we use words
to benefit ourselves. That we
don't have to sit quietly by
while someone abuses us in
any manner.
He is however still a child, and
children don't have a voice in
what happens to them in an
adult world usually. They are
told what to wear, think, act
like, at any moment of the day
and all inflicted upon them by
the families or tribes they live
in, and the court systems who
seem to shuffle them around,
while they get lost in the cracks.
No wonder they build barriers.
Barriers to protect their pysches.
Barriers to protect themselves
physically.
Barriers to protect their spirit
and soul.
It is time to tear down the
barriers and give these children
who've been living in pain
since birth, a voice, a life free
of living with the scar of a belt,
the whiplash of a soul
perpetrating hurt and pain
on another soul.
I lived it. Many have lived it.
I'm breaking down the barriers.
For myself, for my grandchildren.
