What The Saints See

You may have seen the bumper sticker, “What would Jesus do?” It’s a fair question. If it were possible, I think we’d all like to live our lives as the saints lived, whether that saint was Jesus, Ghandi, Buddha, or Mother Theresa. And whom but a saint would you like to meet at night in a dark alley? To stand beside such a person is to know safety that is beyond the safety of solitude. But perhaps the bumper sticker asks the wrong question. To treat a stranger like a friend while you believe he is an enemy is still a lie, regardless of your intentions, and the truth, as the saying goes, will out. And if you see enemies everywhere, then you must take up arms. You’d be a fool – and maybe even a dead fool – not to.

Better then to ask, “What would Jesus see?” How would I act if I saw a world without enemies? Far better than I do now, I have to believe. It is not so easy, though. I have made enemies of everyone at one time or another. I have made an enemy of my father, of my wife and both my children. It is a simple enough thing to do. Just believe that you cannot be happy unless that person changes. In an instant, they have monstrous power and must be controlled or eliminated, because a life without happiness is not a life worth living.

I think that when I write I begin to see what the saints have seen. Perhaps this is because I am only seeing the blank page and the stream of thoughts I translate to fill it. But that’s all right. This is life too. And it is my experience that dark alleys are everywhere, most definitely including my workroom. To find the saint within me at such a time is not only helpful but necessary, is perhaps the very reason I sought not just the workroom but the dark alley in the first place.

Write Within Yourself: An Author's Companion. "A book to keep nearby whenever your writer's spirit needs feeding." Deb Caletti.

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