“I’ve got nothing.”

“Really?  You have no response to all of that?”

“No, I really don’t”

The two brothers parted ways after a deep conversation about their childhood.  The older brother was asking for some sense of validation on his childhood, which the younger brother could not provide.

“I just don’t understand how he cannot remember anything,”   the brother said to his wife.  “It’s almost as though he’s blocking things.”

“Well, maybe he just doesn’t care to dwell on the past,”  his wife replied.

That night the man fell asleep and while he was drifting away, he remembered periods of his childhood.  Periods that were not so good.  He could remember a scene where his father came home late after drinking at the local bar and spent the night yelling at his mother.  He and his little brother crawled into the closet to hide in case his father came into their room.

As he fell asleep the memories began to fade as he slipped into a dream state.  The boy was watching his father when he was a young boy.  The boy was playing with his wooden truck when his father came home.  “Dad, dad, I want to show you something.”

“Not now, I just got home from work and I’m tired.”

“But dad…”

“Not now!”  the father barked back.

The young boy went into his room to play alone, when the yelling began.  He could hear loud crashes as his mother and father argued.  He covered his ears and sang to himself to drown out the noise.

The next morning the older brother awoke and ran into the bedrooms of each of his children.  He gave them a big hug and told them that he loved them.

“Hey bro,  I think I figured it out.”

“What are you talking about?”  the younger brother replied.

“About dad, and why he was so angry all of the time.  Let’s get together after work.”

That evening, the two brothers discussed not what their life was like, but that of their father.  They began to understand the cycle that he was in with his father and all.

“We need to make sure we break the pattern.  That’s our mission, to stop the madness in this family.”

“I agree.  I have given up thinking about my childhood, but now I understand a bit better about dad.  I don’t agree with what he did, but now I have a better understanding for why it might have happened.”

As the brothers grew older, they remembered their conversation and their promise to stop the cycle.   Years later they recounted that evening when they made their pact.

“The interesting thing, is that I now see the cycles in nearly everything, from the religious to the political choices that people make.  It seems that no one thinks for themselves anymore, and just goes with what they were taught or how they were raised.”

“I agree.  I see that everywhere, too.”

Ω

InspiraCard

Life is about growing up and beginning to think and act for yourself.  It’s time to break the “automatic” patterns that get passed from generation to generation.  Let today be the first day of doing your own thinking for the rest of your life!

Written, Thu, Mar 10, 2016, 7:55 – 8:07 AM MST