The recent windstorm in Pasadena left our city in shambles. With winds up to 100 mph, I’d call it a hurricane instead of a windstorm. Debris is piled high in every block. Trees and power lines are down everywhere. And some unlucky homes like this are red-tagged. I took many pictures of homes like this one. Smashed from downed trees, these homes have been declared uninhabitable. They aren’t safe to live in.
How safe is your home? While Mother Nature destroys homes sometimes, human nature can do just as much damage, far more often and with far worse consequences. Human nature can be far less humane. As a therapist who helps people to pick up the pieces in their lives, I hear stories of the worst examples of human nature. But even in the newspapers, we've all heard stories about the mother who locked her kids in a closet for months or the father that threw his son across a room. I've heard of parents that pointed guns at their kids or told them they regret they were born. Its a toss-up which of those last two was a worse thing to do to a child. Some kids are victims of sexual abuse in their own homes. I know these are extreme examples of abuse in families, but other examples are far too commonplace, such as mothers with impossibly high standards, wives with constant bad moods, critical fathers and husbands with tempers.
Mother Nature can't help what she does, but can't human nature be better that this? Should kids have to live in uninhabitable homes? While Nature doesn't have a heart, humans do. We are held to a different standard. Humans know how they effect others and choose what they say and do. Parents and spouses are morally responsible for how they treat their family members.
Are you building up your wife, husband or kids? Do your loved ones feel safer when they are around you? Or do you have a red-tag around you that makes them unsafe? If you are the red-tagged type of person, its time to do yourself and family a favor. Its time to change. Stop the excuses or low standards for your moods, temper or sarcasm. If you lived in a home yourself that was uninhabitable, you may need to talk out your wounds and griefs in therapy. Don't take it out on others. Talk it out and get over it. Clean up the damage. Make your home a safe place to live for everyone.
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