Wesley is a 37-year-old white male. He is a veteran of the US conflict in Afghanistan and has a prosthetic on his right side for the leg that was blown off by a landmine his last Tour of Duty. He is married and has three children, ages 6, 8’and 11 but he rarely sees them. Wesley and his wife are separated because of his habitual drunkenness and use of the drugs to address his PTSD. In These Rooms, he described his alcohol addiction and use of meth, cocaine and occasionally heroin to quiet the voices he hears as Cursing the Darkness. Wesley said “…not doing the shit I know will give me back my family with the booze and drugs is me cursing the damn darkness…”
Thanks Wesley. Let’s go deeper into Cursing the Darkness.
“…We are not here to Curse the Darkness. We are here to Light a Candle…”
John F. Kennedy
“…Placing expectations on other people, places and things instead of placing them on our inner characters is Cursing the Darkness. I spent years under-achieving and looking at myself thru the lens of others instead of being the best I could be. I was Cursing the Darkness. I looked at what others were doing and achieving academically and lamented the head start they had in life while using this as an excuse for my fears and my sense of inferiority. I was Cursing the Darkness. I tried living according to the way I thought other people saw me. I come from a community who live every day in America according to the way others see us. That is, people who are at best indifferent to our health and wellbeing. I see all this now as Cursing the Darkness…”
The Professor
“…I’ve lived thousands of trials in my life. I could go on and on about them and some of this shit actually happened. I was introduced to this concept called Rule #6. Rule #6 has helped me move beyond a lot of the shit of my past. Not using Rule #6 when it is the cornerstone of my life toolbox is me Cursing the Darkness. What is Rule #6? Don’t take yourself so God-damn seriously…”
Yalie
“…The redemptive power of the cross is the love of and trust in a God that empowers us to embrace and even celebrate the gift of our faults and the songs of our souls…“
The Professor
“…I Cursed the Darkness for years complaining about shit I thought was wrong, unfair or unjust. I’m great at finding fault with other people and their shit. I’m damn good at focusing on and complaining about what others have done to me. But I call it Cursing the Darkness when I never stop to look at the man in the mirror. Me. I call it Cursing the Darkness when I put all my fucking energy into complaining about other people’s shit instead of seeking to discover the redemptive narrative power in my story and in the stories of others…”
Hunter
“…What lies behind us and before us pales in comparison to the power that lies within us…”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
To know all this, to believe and most importantly to act on it, that is Lighting A Candle. To do otherwise, that is our Cursing the Darkness.
Read more about Yalie, the Professor and Hunter and tell your story. Listen to Hunter’s Podcast. All on wreckedamerica.com. In Wrecked America, #Cursingthe DarknessMatters
The Struggle Continues….
