Heart Breaking

Shunning. Who understands this word? It is perhaps the cruelest of all actions, pretending someone once well loved no longer exists.

Societies have used it for centuries, claiming it as the ultimate nonviolent reaction to misbehaving members. I’ve seen parents use a mild form of it to make a point with children and children themselves use it on school grounds and play yards to set themselves apart from other children.

I think it is one of the most damaging of actions. Effectively obliterating the existence of a living, breathing, feeling human being.

Whether done at a community level, or a personal one, it is a heart breaking punishment whose ramifications echo in reverse back into the heart and mind of the one being shunned. Growing louder and louder until it can drown out all other thoughts.