Abuse and Leadership

James' father was abusive.

His father was an alcoholic and used to beat up his mother every night. James used to live in constant fear that his mother would die and he would lose whatever little love he had.

For years, James spent his days living the nightmare in the flesh. He hated his father for putting them in this condition. He blamed him for everything that was wrong in his life. He used to see the fathers of other kids and envy them.

Then James outgrew his situation. He became so unafraid of death that he had the confidence to do whatever it took to put himself and his mother out of this misery.

Years later, when James had created a life for himself and outgrew all his curses, he sat happy, marveling at his victory over his afflictions.

He was watching a show where a father was caught doing something questionable by his daughter. The daughter was too young to understand the twists of adult life. She started hating his father. The father could only say that 'it is complicated' before retiring to his room, with a face full of guilt and no sense of tomorrow.

Seeing this, James realized that he let his father die with this guilt. He grasped that his father would have had the same look in his last moments. His father would have thought of himself as a bad person when he passed away. He would have had that tremendous guilt of being the culprit in James' eyes and that drowning feeling of not having enough time to do anything about it.

James was full of shame at the moment. He knew that no one deserved to die like that. No matter what they have done. He never thought about the background of his father. He never considered the situations his father would have gone through for him to become the monster James always saw.

James knew that Nobody does bad deeds because they are a bad person. Something wrong must have happened in their lives, and they are too afraid to break the chain. They have become a follower of the evil that they have received.

James knew that the only solution to the problem was not to pass on the hurt but to absorb it. He decided to stay committed to never letting anyone feel like a bad person, even if he knew they were doing something bad.

James was sure everyone deserved forgiveness and a second chance to turn their lives around. He was willing to give whatever help was needed for others to feel the light inside their hearts. For him, that was their true nature that they had forgotten due to the pain they had received from the world.

In that moment, James became a true leader.