Leaving the Parade

Let me ask you first. Have you ever given your power over to someone else;the power inside you to do good? Have you ever knuckled under, stayed silent, maybe made a few excuses for someone you knew was trying to pull a fast one or take a short cut?
 
The story of The Emporer’s New Clothes will lead out.
 
A wonderful story of speaking the truth when the crowd is not so certain of calling it out, the ruling powers have been duped but don’t want to let on they really don’t see what someone says they are supposed to, and the scammers are thinking they’ve successfully bullied their way into new money, lessons for all are presented.
 
Two tailors come to town and tell the King they will sew special clothes that only really special people can see. They sew away with invisible supplies and the King, not wanting to reveal any degree of ordinariness in himself, says ‘Oh yes! I can see they are beautiful’. He ends up parading down the street in his underwear. The tailors carry imaginary ermine behind him.
 
Meanwhile the crowd is clapping politely because, well, he’s the King right? Who stands up to the ruling class and makes an opposing observation? Nobody who wants to keep living and making a living.
 
But one little boy hollers out ‘but he isn’t wearing anything! The Emperor has no clothes!!’ The little boys mother shushes him.
 
Freeze frame.
 
Right after I finish writing this column I’m going to change my life so radically for the good that it literally leaves me breathless. No baby steps like I’ve been taking for the last twenty years, I mean full on plunge into it where the only thing I have to learn is how to receive abundant blessing.
 
I finally get to leave the parade. I’m turning my back on the kings who lead people in foolish deceptions, the scammers who go for a fast buck with lies, and the crowds who applaud with insincerity. Why?
 
Because I have found people who are not afraid of healing, lots of them. I have found people who tell the truth and it sets them free. They are on a different street with no parade.
 
Us ACOMI ( Adult Children of the Mentally Ill ) are different from ACOA’s. We aren’t codependents. We are hostages. Now truly I thought I had healed from my upbringing because I was the little boy who always told the true observation about the Emperor having no clothes.
 
Being the only daughter of a mother with Borderline Personality Disorder ,before they even had a name for it , Mom flat out told me, when I tried to set some limits one time, ‘ but you’ve always been in charge of managing my anxiety’. That’s a hostage.
 
Life is a learning curve if you let it be. Mom’s been dead ten years now, my birthday is coming up, i just spent six months standing up for myself more strongly than I ever have in my life...
 
If I let those factors roll into epiphanies and revelation, as I have, I will end up with new marching orders. I’m turning the corner and going down a new street where I live out my life away from the parade.
 
I offer these musings for two reasons. First of all I think there’s maybe twenty percent of the world that is leaving or has left the parade. I’m committing to walking beside them.
 
Secondly, because I loved my mother deeply and dearly and always longed for peace for her, I will still have a place, although no longer a loyalty, to the people at the parade. I will always hope they will have a change of heart. But I’m publicly severing my allegience.
 
I have not a clue what it will be like to live on another street with no parade. But pardon me, I’m going to go find out. The unknown has never felt more inviting.
Love, Deborah