I took a long walk near my home in the middle of winter. It was a dreary day. Overcast. Colorless. Chilly. Lifeless.
I considered the gray day an appropriate metaphor for lives afflicted by cancer, injury and disease, injustice and abuse, theft and destruction, or hatred and rejection. I thought the scenery was also aptly representative of our nation’s political and cultural landscape.
Today, I took another look at the photos, and contemplated the biblical book of Lamentations. Its author is widely considered to be the prophet Jeremiah. In it, Jeremiah is … well, he is lamenting.
He is crying. Grieving. Moaning.
Jeremiah begins the third chapter, “I am the man who has seen affliction.”
He isn’t wrong to grieve — in fact he has good reason to do so. For twenty more verses he mourns the life that has become his. He describes darkness, grinding teeth, chains, evil, enemies, his wasting body, a soul bereft of peace.
Then, beginning in verse twenty-one …
21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Now, take another look at those winter photos …
Strain, if you must, to see …
The color. The life. The warmth. The beauty. The hope.
Philippians 4: 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
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It’s not that life isn’t hard, unjust, worrisome, or painful. It truly can be daunting, even devastating. And it’s right to lament those things — in fact, it can be essential for a future of wholeness, clarity and wisdom — but, before the heaviness of all that is wrong in our personal or collective lives burdens us beyond recovery …
Take another look at life. Strain to see good. Search for it as for gold.
It would be a shame to overlook the true, the noble, the pure, the lovely precisely when we need it most.
And it would be a grave error to forget the author of hope in the darkest of days.
I’ve been studying NPD, or diagnosable Narcissistic Personality Disorder, for the past four months. I’ve listened to podcasts and videos and read countless articles by respected and experienced psychologists.
There are some universally-accepted truths that they all agree on, and a few discrepancies. For example, some say NPD is genetically acquired, some say the opposite: that it is environmentally acquired in childhood due to trauma. Others say narcissists are groomed to become one by a narcissist parent. While I would love to learn the truth of how the narcissists I know became one, it will have to wait until it is proven. I have to also accept that the cause of NPD may never be proven.
The majority of information about NPD, however, has put words and understanding to people that have baffled me for decades. To hear words put to something you know from firsthand experience is to finally be validated. To learn that you are not alone in your suffering is relieving. To have clarity on the “hows and whys” of tactics used against you is freeing. To be understood finally, when everyone advised you to deal with a narcissist as if they were a normal person, but everything in your being cried out in disagreement, is exoneration.
The information on NPD is vast, but I’d recommend listening to this video. It distills much of the information into the basics. It is a great starting point. She specializes in NPD in the area of marriage and divorces. If that applies to you, it may finally explain the life you’ve endured, or the inability to shed a past narcissistic partner. If that’s not you, realize that the truths are not specific to divorce; they are generalizable to anyone: a boss or coworker, family member, friend, church or community leader or peer. They can also apply to those you know only from a distance, such as Trump.
Experts worldwide have been studying our current president as long as he has been in the public eye. They agree that he has NPD. Though most of my relief has come with understanding people in my private life, there is also a freedom that has come from understanding Trump. It creates a distance by stepping away from his tactics and seeing him for who he is. He has advanced to an astounding level of followers and enacted destructions on our nation by using classic NPD tactics.
As you learn about him as a narcissist, and disengage from his tactics, his power to toy with you is lost. The truth will set a whole lot of people free of him, if they are willing to learn.
Think of people you know intimately as you watch the video. Also think of Trump and his clones.
Keep in mind that who you see on the outside may not be who they are on the inside. Narcissists are good at what they do: maintaining facades in public, but unleashing cruel tactics to control and exploit their victims behind closed doors.
I’ll leave the rest to the video.
As you watch and listen … May the truth set you free.
Video rights belong to Stowe Family Law and Dr. Supriya McKenna. Subscribe to their videos and podcasts.
Soak it in. Let it move you from the impossible to the possible. From stuck-in-place to moving. From stagnant to dynamic. Don’t be literal; be open to what the fast car is for you. Let a long-buried plan within come to life. Allow your purpose to be the engine.
Once moving, take only the good roads. Use your power for good. Make us all better.
Be someone.
Please, please …
Be someone.
Lyrics
You got a fast car And I want a ticket to anywhere Maybe we make a deal Maybe together we can get somewhere
Any place is better Starting from zero, got nothing to lose Maybe we’ll make something Me, myself, I got nothing to prove
You got a fast car And I got a plan to get us out of here Been working at the convenience store Managed to save just a little bit of money
Won’t have to drive too far Just across the border and into the city And you and I can both get jobs Finally see what it means to be living
See, my old man’s got a problem He lived with the bottle, that’s the way it is Said his body’s too old for working His body’s too young to look like his
So, Mama went off and left him She wanted more from life than he could give I said, “Somebody’s got to take care of him” So, I quit school and that’s what I did
You got a fast car Is it fast enough so we could fly away? Still gotta make a decision Leave tonight, or live and die this way
So, I remember when we were driving, driving in your car Speed so fast, I felt like I was drunk City lights laid out before us And your arm felt nice wrapped around my shoulder And I, I had a feeling that I belonged I, I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone
You got a fast car We go cruising, entertain ourselves You still ain’t got a job So I work in the market as a checkout girl
I know things will get better You’ll find work and I’ll get promoted And we’ll move out of the shelter Buy a bigger house, live in the suburbs
So, I remember when we were driving, driving in your car Speed so fast, I felt like I was drunk City lights lay out before us And your arm felt nice wrapped around my shoulder And I, I had a feeling that I belonged I, I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone
You got a fast car I got a job that pays all our bills You stay out drinking late at the bar See more of your friends than you do of your kids
I’d always hoped for better Thought maybe together you and me’d find it I got no plans, I ain’t going nowhere Take your fast car and keep on driving
So, I remember when we were driving, driving in your car Speed so fast, I felt like I was drunk City lights lay out before us And your arm felt nice wrapped around my shoulder And I, I had a feeling that I belonged I, I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone
You got a fast car Is it fast enough, so we could fly away? You still gotta make a decision Leave tonight, or live and die this way
***Songwriting and performance by Tracy Chapman. All music rights belong to Tracy Chapman.
The list of atrocities that occurred against Zelensky yesterday is long.
What strikes me also, is the full circle since Trump’s first impeachment, when Zelensky first came on my radar. The audio evidence of Trump on the phone threatening to withhold aid unless Zelensky produced an accusation of Hunter Biden was met by Trump with denial and discrediting of witnesses. Trump, his handlers, and the GOP on the committee effectively buried that evidence under denial, deflections and counterattacks, knowing Trump’s quid pro quo of Zelensky was impeachment-worthy. (It’s why Blagojevich and others in government have been convicted and imprisoned, it’s illegal when involving blackmail, bribes, etc.)
Now, though, Trump is doing the same thing to the same person, at an egregious level. They no longer hide their crime and shakedown, they proudly record and live-televise it.
It took less than six years for half of America to accept and applaud what they used to hide and deny.
Where does our legal, moral and ethical devolution stand on the long list of atrocities? – I hate to acknowledge it, it is so terrifying:
The public view of many, of what is right and what is wrong, has lowered to an unthinkable level.
That is the foundation from which all present and future atrocities can occur without fear of consequences.
Regarding one person, Zelensky, we can measure the U.S. baseline of law, ethics, and morality: It was crumbling 2019; in 2025, it is unspeakably and unforgivingly low.
Lies. They seem to have the upper hand. Truths keep fighting to overcome the lies, but as soon as they surface to be heard and seen, more and more lies are dumped, smothering the truths.
People deliver the lies, so those people are guilty.
People choose to believe the lies, so those people are guilty also.
What could possibly be good about this time in America?
You have to back up from the nitty gritty details to see it. You have to rise above the trees to see the forest. You have to remove the masks to see who people really are.
What good could there be in discovering that the hearts of many people are horrible? What good could there be to learn that those people you trusted and believed to be good, are not?
The pain of discovery is real. Disheartening. Discouraging. Devastating. Wave after wave of people in your life are falling away, as people’s hearts are exposed.
They choose the lies. They adore the lies. They idolize the liars.
They defend abusers. They side with destroyers. The more their power, the stronger their bond of allegiance to them.
They applaud dehumanization and disposal of people. They shake their fists and raise angry voices to anyone who objects.
They choose injustice.
They despise mercy for those they choose to hate.
What could possibly be good about this time in America?
They have found their tribe. Their comrades come out of the woodwork when you attempt an appeal for righteousness. You are overpowered with bold, aggressive words and actions. There is no limit to their commitment to defend their position. Make a simple statement of truth in the presence of lies, and you will be shamed at the least. Persist, and the power tribe appears out of the shadows to gang up against you.
They live to overpower righteousness.
Persist further, and the aggression increases against you. God forbid you find your own tribe to march against their madness; they will happily pull out their weapons to attack. They are hoping for the appearance of cause to get to do it. Don’t think they exercise the same restraint you do.
They want to do harm.
And they can with no consequences. Think Kyle Rittenhouse. Think Capitol rioters. They know they can do the unspeakable as long as they align with the current federal power.
They take. They steal. They believe themselves entitled to do so. They do not feel at all bad about it.
They remove your right to safety.
Distilled to its simplest form:
You have learned who makes you unsafe.
You used to trust those people. They are among your family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, community, churches and organizations, police and firefighters, local, state, and federal elected officials, county, state and supreme courts, and local to highest administrations.
What could possibly be good about this time?
Back out of the trees to see the forest.
From a larger perspective, what is happening? How is this anything but evil?
From this distant viewpoint, go back in time, before you knew. Back when you thought that person was authentic in their kindness. Back when you thought your love for a person was requited. Back when you believed them to be respectful, honorable, noble, unselfish, and concerned for the good of all. Back when you believed what they said, because you credited them as being honest.
Fast forward to now. To knowing. To seeing.
It’s terrible to know and to see the terrible truth, yes.
But it’s also good, because it’s good to know. To have the masks stripped from the faces of people. To have the facades removed. To see people for who they are, not who they pretended to be for so long.
God is exposing the hearts of people.
To be sure, none of the evil is being caused by God. Evil exists because people are choosing it.
God leads people who are willing away from evil, not toward it. He turns all things together for good. He doesn’t forsake us.
People are wondering when God is going to come on the scene and help the oppressed and downtrodden.
He’s already doing it. He has been all along.
Yes, people are piling up the evil, seemingly without any hindrances, and evil appears to prevail unabated … but …
We see their hearts now, don’t we? Their hearts, that were secure and hidden for so long, are laid bare, aren’t they? They have been exposed.
We can check that off as the first of many conquests to come for good over evil. That’s no small thing.
Think of a chronological continuum. At the far left, just before we embarked on this time in America, we still assumed the best about most people. People who didn’t deserve to be counted as good were given our trust.
Because we didn’t know. Back then, only they and God knew what they were hiding. Many were great actors; they hid it very well.
But think about it: They were all those bad things back then that they are now. All that time, you were being duped. Conned. Bamboozled. Used and abused.
Learning that so many people are actually so bad is very, very painful, but also critical to know.
Every day someone’s heart is exposed for what it is, is a good day. Not a pain-free day, but a good day.
Each day that you know the truth, you are less vulnerable to being duped. Conned. Bamboozled. When you know the truth, you are positioned to rise above them. You are better positioned to be wise. You get to go forward, better informed about who you should trust or not.
If you are left with no one after your people have been exposed, you are still better positioned than any time in your life to rise up and go forward. Free of the anchors. Free of the defrauders and the inauthentic. Free of the con artists and liars. Free of the evil-hearted. Free of the thieves and destroyers.
Imagine the heights you can soar with all those anchors removed. Think of a hot air balloon that has never left the ground in all its existence. It has been tethered by countless ropes by countless people posing as helpers. When those people have been exposed as working to ground you instead of helping you rise in goodness, you need to release their ropes tied to you. Simply remove them from the basket of you, the hot air balloon.
And rise. Rise. Rise.
Once you rise above the trees, you can look back on the forest. And see …
There is good already happening. God has already been at work.
There is more to come on the continuam. This is just the beginning of how he is turning all things together for good. It started with exposure.
Exposure is God’s policy.
1 Corinthians 4:5: “Do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart”.
1 Corinthians 14:25: “The secrets of his heart will be made known”.
Luke 8:17: “There is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed”.
1 Samuel 16:7: “The Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart”.
Luke 12: 1-3 Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.
Cindi Gale 