The following is a work in progress so any thoughts would be appreciated
The Parable of the Collar
One day as I was wandering around attending to my own business a person approached me and presented me with a nice collar. It looked good and was attractive. It would help me in my travels. I am a bit sceptical about the offer. I am told that this collar will protect me when those who do not wear the collar will die or be destroyed. No reasonable person would refuse this offer. I am told that after a certain time of wearing the collar I will get one that is even more specatular than I could ever imagine - in gold with diamonds and other precious gems, so beautiful that I would never want for anything else.
Since I never had one as nice as the one presently offered I agree to accept this collar and together my new friend and I wander off with our collars, proud to be the owners of such a beautiful gift that marks us as special and protected.
My new friend went off to give collars to others and I do the same in another direction. This is part of the work we do to keep our collars. And I am enthusiastic over this work at first.
After a time, I notice my collar is getting tighter. It begins to chaff my neck. I try to stretch it but it still keeps getting tighter. I am told that is just a problem with me. No one else has this problem so it certainly couldn't be the collar. I just have to adjust my thinking. Perhaps if I just move in a certain way it won't hurt so much. So I start walking without moving my head too much and stop thinking about the pain I feel. That seems to work for a while. But I still feel the chafing. Sometimes my neck starts to bleed under the collar but again I am told that is my problem. The collar would never cause a person to get sick or feel bad.
I notice others walk around and all seem to be fine. So of course it must be "my" problem. But as I continue to wear the collar the pain and infection srts in and gets worse and worse. Soon I am having problems with breathing and I feel sick all the time. Something is really wrong but I have no idea how to fix it. I try taking the collar off and while that helps a bit I feel very bad for doing it. And when I go out I know I have to put it back on because I cannot risk my friends seeing me without it.
I've begun to notice how a few others are treated when they complain about their collars or get caught with their collars off. That makes me think. Perhaps I'm not the only one who is having problems. But I know I cannot speak to anyone about it.
The sad thing is that I think I am dying inside. I see so many bad things going on with others who wear the collars. I'm getting to the point of thinking I never want to put it on again. But I am torn. I have grown dependant on the collar and others who wear it. Taking it off and throwing it away means certain death in the near future.
I stop to look at the collar. I really look carefully at its construction. It isn't a collar after all. It is a noose and it keeps getting tighter because I place all my weight on it. The more weight I place on the noose the tighter it gets.
How could I have been so stupid to put my neck in a noose? Why didn't I see this before? Why didn't I look at how the collar was made before? It's odd how they never let me see what was under the top layer of the collar.
So now what do I do?
So what other questions or reactions are common once we realize that we have been wearing the noose? What else could I add?
- we want to help others see the collar for what it really is?
- we have or want........