Remembrance or Exploitation

I look through old photos, when it’s the anniversary of mom’s death and birthday, I light a candle. I might discuss how our relationship impacted me etc… Sometimes if there is a tragic event that changes one’s life regarding a loved one, those anniversaries can be tough. Having a yearly graveside visit and memorial is respectful.

I think one of the things that has people feeling triggered by a certain Montecito California couple is that it’s not about remembrance in regards to family and memory vs exploitation. If memories are used only to exploit others for money, for revenge, out of bitterness etc…then it’s not a memorial, not remembrance, it’s exploitation. What does that say about the mental state of someone who would constantly use a traumatic event in life to profit, to play the victim card? Hate to say it, not much good and that is sad. What do you do when you have someone who is stuck in their own world of delusion, of trauma etc..?

You don’t feed it, don’t feed the delusion, don’t feed the frenzy, the perpetual victimization mentality. You make it clear that you understand there was pain, trauma, but you won’t give their exploitation airtime. It’s important to get them to see that they are not honoring anyone when they exploit anyone or anything simply for profit and the spotlight. Doesn’t matter whether you are a celebrity or not. Important to not feed the beast of constant “woe is me” mentality. Help the person get unstuck, not stay stuck and exploiting or being exploited. I will talk about trauma and navigating trauma in the next few blogs.

Namaste