“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”- Martin Luther King, Jr.

I’ve been pet sitting a couple of dogs these past few days, it’s a gig that I got from an acquaintance, personally I’ve never owned dogs and am not too familiar with their distinct personalities. Just today I was reflecting on how the white dog is friendlier and open because of her early upbringing, which was positive, she’s happy when she sees me and greets me. The little dog however, came from the streets and wasn’t treated well, she always hides when I show up even though I’ve never shown her anything else but love. Because of her unhealthy past experiences with people, she still has this fear whenever someone she doesn’t know too well shows up.

This made me realize that people are the same; you can ask two different people what their experience was like with ‘X’ person and depending on their world view and upbringing, their response will be different. And it’s not as if ‘X’ is a bad person, it’s just that you have two opposing views. So whose point of view is accurate? Both, because to each person their view is their reality, and thus totally valid.

Our life’s quality is dependent on the choices we make as responsible adults, as children there are many variables which we do not have control over, however when we reach the age where we are conscious enough to make changes, the responsibility then lies within our reach. It is a useless game to play the victim because we then go back to the question of, who is right? To the perpetrator, they did nothing wrong. To the victim, they see it otherwise. It’s like a cat chasing its tail; you will just go in circles trying to play the blame game. Therefore it behooves one to take action and do the necessary things to heal oneself, you are the most important person in your life so choose YOU, choose you and your happiness, let go of the past, heal, forgive, and love.

The benefits of love far outweigh those of revenge and hate, hate attracts hate, another unending vicious circle. Choose love, do it for you, do it for those that you love, but above all, do it for you. Don’t be a victim for life, don’t let negative experiences chain you for the rest of this gift called life, you have this blessing called free will to do as you choose, choose wisely, choose with love, love, and gratitude.