I've been thinking a lot about Faron Hall. Twice in a short four month, he has pulled somebody from the Red River saving them from certain death. He has been called "Guardian Angel of the Red" and other hero-ly names.
How does society recognize one of their own who lives on the fringes? People who don't subscribe to societal norms, inhabit the street, and engage in behaviors and/or addictions that aren't popular? How do people make a hero out of someone who would rather stay invisible?
I wonder what it does to that person. He's afraid of falling off the pedestal he feels people have put him on, he says. Maybe he doesn't want to subscribe to our norms. Maybe he's happy the way he is. Maybe society puts strings on rewards for good behavior. I think maybe we do. Does that kind of pressure actually increase someone's chances of struggling? And having saved one person and not another, would that create a traumatic stress type of response? Would you have survivor's guilt if it had been you pulling one person out of the water and watching the other disappear?
I don't know. I'm just wondering.
3 comments:
Thanks for this post.
I find myself wanting Faron - and all walking wounded - to find themselves in the company of one or two life friends who will walk through it all with them.
WELL PUT, MY FRIEND.
Yes -- very well said indeed! The media reports bug me because it seems as if suddenly he is worth something -- before that he was just a nobody street person. If we could only open our eyes to see the value of everyone we encounter, and to see that we are not that much different when it comes down to it. And to live in grace and forgiveness, knowing who we are.
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