What is vulnerability?
For years, people have complained that I don’t open up and trust people. I have found it slightly ironic that these same individuals are generally those who take advantage of me when I open up and trust them despite their assurances to the contrary. Nobody really likes to be vulnerable, but it seems to be the only way in which to gain depth in any kind of relationship, from espirit de corps to fidelity. It’s kind of funny how we start as children with all the trust in the world and then quickly revoke that for anyone and everyone who subsequently crosses our path.
Vulnerability quite simply put means an ability to be hurt by someone else. Militarily, it means open to attack and susceptible to wounds, but in a broader sense, it just means that other people have power to do us harm (even if just to our ego or illusions). We see that with people who use their birthdays as passwords, who announce on Facebook that they’ll be on a cruise for a week or two, and who finally tell another person that they love them. Most of the powerful destructive forces in our lives come at us sideways and use details about us to hit us where we are weak so they can do us harm, even if it’s not personal. Sometimes, it's just that they upset the status quo or shake up the false reality with which we have become comfortable, which does us temporary harm even if it leads to ultimate good.
What makes a person vulnerable?
Vulnerability comes from several sources. First off, humans are physically vulnerable due to the sensitive natures of their bodies. We are already riddled with holes. You can break the skin with one pound of pressure correctly applied. We rely on gas exchange, ion transfer, and involuntary physiological processes that few of us understand and still fewer can force by sheer will. Microbes, toxins, and other invaders get into our bodies through various means, and we usually don’t know we are infected until they have already caused damage.
Much human vulnerability comes from our own choices. We expose ourselves to get fame and fortune. We log onto the internet and divulge details to others so that we can brag or at least seem to have something of which to brag. We sign up for surveys and contests and coupons in an effort to save money and hope that instead of John Wayne Gacey with a weapon Ed McMahan will show up with a check at the door. We say things, choose to go places, spend money, and invest time, all in such a way that we put ourselves into the company of people who may or may not deserve our trust. For those who we hope will prove they deserve our trust, we give them power to destroy our lives. Someone once said that being in love means you give someone the power to hurt you and hope they won’t use it.
A largely forgotten piece of human vulnerability comes from refusal to make our own choices. While it is quite possible we might make an error, the surrender of choice makes us by far and away the most vulnerable. Freedom once forsaken is rarely regained, and then usually only by blood. Governments make promises. People form governments. In the end, they’re all as equally frail and faulty as we are.
I really like this video that puts things into perspective. A reporter goes up in a U2 Spy Plane and comments on just how fragile our lives really are.
All the more reason to be thankful for what we have.
For years, people have complained that I don’t open up and trust people. I have found it slightly ironic that these same individuals are generally those who take advantage of me when I open up and trust them despite their assurances to the contrary. Nobody really likes to be vulnerable, but it seems to be the only way in which to gain depth in any kind of relationship, from espirit de corps to fidelity. It’s kind of funny how we start as children with all the trust in the world and then quickly revoke that for anyone and everyone who subsequently crosses our path.
Vulnerability quite simply put means an ability to be hurt by someone else. Militarily, it means open to attack and susceptible to wounds, but in a broader sense, it just means that other people have power to do us harm (even if just to our ego or illusions). We see that with people who use their birthdays as passwords, who announce on Facebook that they’ll be on a cruise for a week or two, and who finally tell another person that they love them. Most of the powerful destructive forces in our lives come at us sideways and use details about us to hit us where we are weak so they can do us harm, even if it’s not personal. Sometimes, it's just that they upset the status quo or shake up the false reality with which we have become comfortable, which does us temporary harm even if it leads to ultimate good.
What makes a person vulnerable?
Vulnerability comes from several sources. First off, humans are physically vulnerable due to the sensitive natures of their bodies. We are already riddled with holes. You can break the skin with one pound of pressure correctly applied. We rely on gas exchange, ion transfer, and involuntary physiological processes that few of us understand and still fewer can force by sheer will. Microbes, toxins, and other invaders get into our bodies through various means, and we usually don’t know we are infected until they have already caused damage.
Much human vulnerability comes from our own choices. We expose ourselves to get fame and fortune. We log onto the internet and divulge details to others so that we can brag or at least seem to have something of which to brag. We sign up for surveys and contests and coupons in an effort to save money and hope that instead of John Wayne Gacey with a weapon Ed McMahan will show up with a check at the door. We say things, choose to go places, spend money, and invest time, all in such a way that we put ourselves into the company of people who may or may not deserve our trust. For those who we hope will prove they deserve our trust, we give them power to destroy our lives. Someone once said that being in love means you give someone the power to hurt you and hope they won’t use it.
A largely forgotten piece of human vulnerability comes from refusal to make our own choices. While it is quite possible we might make an error, the surrender of choice makes us by far and away the most vulnerable. Freedom once forsaken is rarely regained, and then usually only by blood. Governments make promises. People form governments. In the end, they’re all as equally frail and faulty as we are.
I really like this video that puts things into perspective. A reporter goes up in a U2 Spy Plane and comments on just how fragile our lives really are.
All the more reason to be thankful for what we have.
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