We give the devil too much credit

Just recently I overheard a conversation between two women. One of them was in distress.

Her brother back home with her parents was not doing very well. She described his behaviour as strange.

He was neither sleeping, eating nor bathing and would sometimes talk to himself. Her parents had sought prayers from various people.

The last trip seeking ‘intervention’ had been all the way across the country and had cost the family hundreds of thousands of shillings which they couldn’t afford.

“It’s the devil,” she kept saying over and over.

Instead of a hospital referral, the other woman offered that she knew another, even more powerful person who could redeem this man.

Let me first say that this isn’t an invitation to a religious debate, I’m aware of how slippery that road can be. I’m just disturbed by how often, when faced with a hurdle, we are quick to blame it on the devil.

TYRE BURST

Whether it’s the big things like illness or job loss or the small ones like a tyre burst, we are quick to point a finger at this mysterious, evil ruler of hell.

Often times, there are pretty straightforward explanations for situations and human behaviour. Sometimes it’s a medical condition; other times happenings are simply effects of our earlier actions.

But no, people would rather just blame this dark mysterious force especially when the answers are those we are not ready to accept, like a mental illness.

We are much more comfortable believing that the devil has launched an attack on a loved one than to accept that they may have a mental illness which just shows how much further we still have left to go with the mental health conversation.

I agree, this blame game is easier but it’s not helping. First of all, it robs people who could otherwise be helped of opportunities to receive medical help.

By not stopping to think of the other possible explanations there might be, you are handing yourself to the tons of grifters and con men waiting to rip off from your pockets whatever little cash is left after you are done paying these hefty taxes.

If only we could ask more questions, open our minds up a little bit.

Second, it’s lazy. If you do not want to believe that you have no hand at all in what happens in your life, how then are you going to take responsibility for your actions?

When you see a colleague moving up the ladder, you will not stop to think that maybe they worked harder and smarter than everyone else.

You will assume that they are the lucky kind. You will say that your friend who is in a progressive relationship is just lucky in love instead and not think that unlike yourself, she actually put herself out there and put in the work to begin with.

The next time you are having a bad day, slow down a little bit. Could there be another explanation?