Unforgettable Love Story

One evening many years ago, my late wife Kathryn, a friend Sam, and I were leaving a movie theater. On our way to the car a man began to follow us asking for money. He looked like he lived on the street and was noticeably intoxicated on something other than alcohol. I got the feeling he was not going to take “no” for an answer.

The closer we got to the car the darker it got and the more worried I got about our safety. I was running a defense plan over in my mind in case we got into some sort of physical altercation…especially since it was me he had picked on to harass. And sure enough, when we arrived at our car and I stopped, he stood in my face making it clear that he was not going to give up without a fight.

I turned and walked away from my car. The man followed, as I hoped he would. Kathryn and Sam stayed near the car watching. I turned around faced the man and commanded, “Stay right here and leave me alone!” I then turned and walked back towards my car.

I could hear him walking right behind me so I quickly turned around, pushed him against another car we were near. He lost his balance and I took advantage of that and helped him to the ground. I was gentle about it, I did not hurt him. I quickly ran back to my car, we all got in, and I drove off.

Later that week at an Apprenticeship group that Kathryn and I attended I asked our teacher Amoram, “What was my lesson in this?” Amoram was the entity that was channeled by Brenda who led this group. Amoram said to me, “Beloved, the experience you had was due to your judgments about this man. You saw him as unworthy…as beneath you. Do you not become defensive when you are being judged? And so it was with this man. How different do you think this situation would have been if you had seen the depths of his soul? If you would have held the truth of his spiritual nature in your mind as you looked upon him? And why was it you that he followed and not Kathryn or Sam?”

I knew exactly what he meant. Neither Sam nor Kathryn would have thought of him as scum as I had been doing that evening. Their thoughts were more along the lines of “It’s sad that he thinks he has to live this way.” They had compassion for him.

Years later I was in the Kingdom of Tonga, a small set of islands in the South Pacific. I was returning to my hotel from a social evening out with friends. It was well after midnight and I was walking. Up ahead I saw a group of large young Tongan men on the same footpath walking towards me.

They were quite drunk, loud, and obnoxious. I had heard rumors about how drunk and belligerent these guys could get. I had seen the long list of names on the window outside of one of the bars of those who were excluded because of their behavior. I was really frightened. I thought I was in for a real good bashing.

Amoram’s words came back to me. I decided to focus on respecting these men, to holding love in my heart for them. In the little time I had before our paths crossed I imagined them with their family, working, playing, laughing…doing all the things a normal responsible person would do.

When we got close enough for conversation they all were having a verbal go at me. In my mind I pretended that they were my friends and having a go at me as friends do. I verbally responded in a cheeky way, as a friend might do, while holding a respectful energy for them. I reached out to them to shake their hands, and although I was not drunk, I acted a bit drunk myself. We had a short conversation about where I was from and I mirrored their loudness and mannerisms as I spoke. We went our separate ways and all was well.

Years later when I had another private session with Amoram I asked him about this incident. I asked him if they intended to beat me up, and he confirmed that they did intend to do exactly that. But my energy changed the situation and disarmed them completely.

Continued in Part II 

Kind and Loving Regards,
Michael Skowronski
Author of Unforgettable: A Love and Spiritual Growth Story

image from sxc.hu

Tags: compassion, judgement, fear

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