Find a Victim

We glide by victims every day. Perhaps we notice them, and we might even willingly turn a blind eye to them. Some of us naturally reach out to offer a helping hand, and some of us lash out...telling them to help themselves. Our reactions to victims are seemingly more varied than our reactions to heroes or villains.

For the intent of this article, I am excluding people with a "victim mindset". These are people who are undoubtedly broken as well; but are so of their own subconscious design. An individual with a victim mindset is usually passive aggressive, and tends to manipulate others to achieve success (whatever success means to them). Although they often create a convincing veil of victim-hood, they energetically fit better into the villain category.

Victims represent weakness, pain, and helplessness. The existence of heroes and villains in our lives is often invigorating and catalytic, whereas the existence of victims is heavy and discombobulating. How an individual relates to weakness is how they react to victims, creating the curious dichotomy between the reactions to victims: impassioned outreach and abhorrent shunning.

As is true with almost all relationships and interactions, like attracts like. The stories of victims that grip you, will almost always mirror your story. Your story may not be exactly the same as the victims around you; but the energetic basics will be similar. For instance, I am compassionately pulled towards two sets of victims: those who are abused or discriminated against solely because they are "different", and those with addiction issues.

In these victims I see my younger self. I see the girl who was hyperactive, talkative, and strange, who went through years of being medicated...convincing herself it was wrong to be different, and that medications could make her normal. She developed compulsive behaviors in an effort to "feel normal", and couldn't find a way to thrive as the person she actually was. After all, no matter how hard we try to be someone we're not, we're always the person we are.

Just as our attraction to victims is a mirror of the victim in us, our treatment of victims is how we treat the victim in us. Do you ignore the weakness, pain, and helplessness of others? Do you change the channel when you see a victim on television? Maybe you lash out at weakness, and border on bullying victims to "suck it up" or "get over it". Do you meet weakness with anger? Some people smother victims, and spoil them with love; but never offer them the idea that they can rise above their plight, and become victorious. How do you treat victims? It's important to acknowledge the answer to this question, because it is likely how you treat the injured person within you.

Find a victim. Think about the hurt people whose stories pull at your heart, and recognize the pain inside yourself. Determine how you treat people who have been wronged, and you will discover how you've been tending to your own wounds. Allow yourself to accept the victim in you, and learn how to best heal it. Knowing our inner victim helps us better understand our pain; and our pain has a purpose- it shows us the way to a better life.