Angela Kelsey

Tell the Story

Grey Area

Filed in Dating Violence, Domestic Violence, Stories, voices :: July 6, 2017

Life is easier, in some ways, when things are neatly divided into them/us, bad/good, never/always boxes.

When those boxes crumble, when the lines between certainties blur, our assumptions and givens shake. Things get trickier and more interesting.

A few box-crumbling events have happened in my world over the past few years:

  • a friend’s husband was accused of molesting their granddaughter. I believe that he did not do it.
  • another friend was attacked in her home and brutally beaten. She found her way to deep forgiveness.
  • a trusted employee was arrested for domestic violence. I decided to pay for his bail.

In an either/or world, I believe in accusers/victims no matter what; I want my friend’s attacker to go to prison for as long as the law allows; I draw a hard line and fire the batterer.

In the grey zone, I can be open to the possibilities of believing in the accused, marveling at forgiveness, and hoping for the batterer’s change.

My bias remains toward accusers and victims. I believe there is no justification, ever, for emotional or physical violence and also that it is very, very difficult to stop learned behaviors like battering.

Living a little bit more in the grey helps me better understand my own story. Living in the grey is expansive.  Challenging my assumptions makes my ultimate conclusions–or what will be my interim conclusions–more nuanced, more complex, more allowing of further refined understanding.

Living in the grey allows the possibility of telling and hearing all the stories.

 

Comments are closed