To be or not to be ... a Victim

What does it take to be a victim? I’m not talking about someone who by chance falls into the line of someone's gunfire. I’m talking about a mind set, a way of thinking. There are those who live their whole life "victimized." It could be because of some tragedy and they spend their life asking, “Why did this happen to me?” Or, it could be a social injustice that has wounded you. These things all too easily become a crutch for us and before we realize it we are looking for someone to blame. If there is even the slightest chance that it is someone else's fault, we seldom take any responsibility for our self. The only game in town is the blame game. As victims, we live our life on the defense. We’re no longer progressing or moving forward. “I can't make it in life because of what someone has done to me. Nobody likes me, and all of society is geared to stop my progress.” There is the trap that most people fall into. The Minority Trap I have seen entire cultures of people who were stopped dead in their tracks, not because there were not any opportunities for them; but because they were deceived into being victims. That is a risk among all minorities, but I especially see this in the African American community because of its tragic history. The talking heads won’t let the past be healed. Their philosophy is, why waste a crisis? Retribution For example, the doctrine of retribution began to rise a few years ago. My Thesaurus interprets retribution as; vengeance, revenge, payback and reprisal. The concept of retribution demands an unanswerable solution and therefore is used to inflame the injustice that certainly stains and defiles the pages of our history, but has no real answers. I am not suggesting that you embrace injustice. Fight it, condemn it, vote it out of office, but never let anyone make a victim out of you. If you do, your whole life and future will be determined by the greed and manipulation of another. The self serving agenda of talking heads Sometimes the source of the manipulation is financial and political greed, and sometimes it is just pure hatred. There is no answer for this hatred. It is a blood thirst that can’t be quenched, a revenge that cannot be satisfied. These are the ones who buy you, who will sell you, and who will pretend to be for you, only to use your crisis to their profit.

They will claim to be on your side, and say they are just like you. They will believe in your cause. Once they pass themselves off as the champion of your plight, they begin to weave their web. They tell you that the problems of your life are someone else's fault. It's the government, the IRS, the man down the street. It’s the Democrat, the Republican; the black man, the white man, the Hispanic or Jew. These talking heads fan the flame of your injustice until it is an incurable wound all the while bringing great fortune to themselves. They preach that you that you cannot succeed because you are the wrong gender; you were born on the wrong side of the tracks; you don't have the right color of skin. If you believe what they say, you will draw back into a shell, thinking that you cannot be accepted in society. As a result, your whole mind set is defensive and you have achieved the status of being a victim. It is easier to control you that way. They give no solutions, no answers, just hopelessness. I heard it said once that they are only interested in two things: making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it. Anyone who would try to keep you in the mind set of being victimized usually has something to profit from your captivity. They have an agenda. Before you swallow their story about how bad things are for you, maybe you should see how much money and fame they make off of your situation? I see them as the man, who works for the cancer research, crusading to stamp it out, but inwardly, he makes his living from cancer, and therefore the cure eludes him. Your future, your decision Your future in this life is not determined by the breaks that you get. If you believe the lie, you will give up the power to make your own decisions, and someone else will do your thinking for you. They will keep you in that loop as long as you are of use to them. Your future should only be determined by three things.

The purpose of God,
Obedience to that purpose,
Character.

Everything that happens in your life is under the watchful eye and hand of God. No one can make you a victim unless you allow them to. Determine that no matter how bleak it looks, that you will not become a victim. Beware of the individual who makes you angry with no solution, for he too has become your captor.