A Safe Place

"A Safe Place." That's what Dr. Phil says about his show. Sitting on his stage with the bright lights and cameras focused on you, with 4.8 million people watching your every move--you did remove that piece of spinach from your teeth, didn't you?--you should know that you are in a safe place to expose your deepest darkest secrets, your most personal problems. Go ahead now. Tell your story.

Okay, I guess it depends upon what your definition of safe is. If safe is someone else yelling at you and belittling you when you are in your most vulnerable state, then I guess the Dr. Phil show is where you should go for help.

For a long time now I have sought out a safe place far away from the screamers and yellers and body shakers who point an accusatory finger in my face because I’m not performing to their liking. A safe place for me is where calm, kind, and gentle override the desire to attack, and where logic, common sense, and mental stability defuse run-amuck emotions and hysteria. A safe place is where mature adult behavior overrules the childish desire to hit below the belt.

My safe place is far away from those who feel the need to boast themselves up by putting me down or use me as a prop in front of their audience to gain favor for whatever “cause” they might have at the moment. A safe place is far away from those who believe they have a right to verbally and emotionally abuse me.  

A safe place for me is as far away from the Dr. Phils of the world who offer embroidered handkerchiefs to their victims as they draw blood…I mean tears.