Bitterness

Everyone in life has something that they can be bitter about.  It is our way of holding someone responsible for where they have left us or what they have done to us.  Bitterness is like killing yourself to hurt someone else.  It is the only thing that you can think to do to make yourself feel better, only "feeling better" never happens.  Life swirls out of control, you hurt people you love, you love people you have hurt, awkward moments become awkward years and before you know it, life is done and what have you done with it.  Today, I sat down with a wise man and we discussed life.  It tries to leave you bitter, but you have to refuse it.  It tries to leave you hurt, but refuse it.  When I was small, my mother and father divorced.  One tried to hurt the other in various ways.  Instead of moving on like they wanted to, they kept picking at a sore and expecting it to heal.  When I became old enough for parents to become friends, I kept them parents.  Other than my seasonal obligations, I kept them on a long handled spoon.  While trying to destroy each other, they destroyed the part of the "other" that lived in me.  My father hated my adherence to religion.  My mother was very religious.  My mother hated my attitude.  I act like my father.  Bitterness did not destroy just them, it destroyed me.