Confrontation

The scene over my right shoulder didn’t last very long.  Two characters involved on the edge of the piazza.  One was clearly a tourist.  The other just as clearly was not.  One was looking for a fight or maybe someone to mug.  The other was looking to not be where he was.  As I tried to keep things moving at the cash machine, I could see nobody around the two seemed to be aware that anything was going on.  Only one was talking, the stalker.  The other moved in the opposite direction, initially to no avail.  Just when I was preparing to get involved the scene dissolved as quietly as it seemed to have started.  The dance could have lasted for more than a few minutes.
 
I wonder what was said.  I doubt there was anything the pending victim had done to start the process.  In fact as I think about it he did a lot of things right.  Within seconds, even before my cash was in my pocket, it was as if nothing had ever occurred.  Everything was as it was, except for the memories which each one of us still with us.
 
As I walked out into the night the scene continued to play in my mind.  What if I was one of the players?  Am I that different?  If so what is the difference?
 
Sadly there are people in my life who would wonder.  They had experienced the blackness of my life firsthand.  They know the pain, fear, and sadness that can come.  Yet the scene of last night does not need to be who we are.  We have a choice.  We have options.  We have another alternative.
 
When I think of the people around me, including myself on many days, I have a dream.  The dream is a simple prayer.  It reflects a dialogue between Divinity and my soul.  “Everything mine is yours [God], and yours [Divinity’s] mine, and my life [Divinity] is on display in them [all including my self].” (John 17.10) 
 
We will have confrontations, some even for the good.