I Will Not Fight Your Demons

We're not battling people these days. We're battling the gang of demons huddled behind them.

Humans are the frontmen who have been duped into advancing the destruction and devastation of ancient evils. While many of us are savvy enough not to fall prey to their numerous tactics, not everyone is. It's easy enough to understand how an individual can be outsmarted and outmaneuvered by entities that have had centuries to perfect their tactics of persuasion.

I keep thinking of grungy, delinquent high schoolers hanging out behind the gym smoking as a third grader walks by them. They appeal to the kid, "Hey man. You want to smoke? It's really cool."

The third grader responds, "Nope. That looks dumb."

The stoners go, "Noooooo. Come smoke with us."

Adjusting his backpack, the youngster walks away.

Not everyone does. These are the big kids. That in and of itself is persuasive. The third grader wonders, would they really lure me into something that's wrong? What's the harm of a single puff? Instead he stays.

Chocking on the smoke as his little lungs can't handle the inhale, he hears uproarious laughter from the group he trusted mere moments ago. Still, he doesn't realize that he's the butt of their joke. The next thing you know, the situation escalates. The high schoolers goad him into stealing a candy bar from the local shop. What more can they convince the third grader to do for their amusement and objectives?

It's no different with demons.

We watch as demons continue to operate people. They're sucking folks into bad behavior, bad logic, bad everything that impacts their human relationships. When I say, "I won't fight your demons," it's because I don't think it's the actual person that I'm up against. It's a hoard of demons swarming behind him or her shouting, "Hey!!" and itching for a fight.

They want to bring us all down to their level because they can't compete on even footing. One of the places that this is most evident is in discussions of politics.

Read the rest of the essay on Substack.

photo credit: Dazed and Confused (1993)