Michael Richards and the Surprise Factor

Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld) blew it. He admits it, and it's true. In response to heckling at a comedy club, he launched into a racist tyrade that included the "N" word, resulting in the club having to refund everyone's money, including what they paid for drinks. Since that time, Michael's been making the TV circuit, apologizing and offering restitution.

Everyone who knows him says he's a nice guy, absolutely not prone to this kind of thing. Michael says the same thing, telling the world how shocked and surprised he is that those words came out of his mouth. And I believe them. This was utterly out of character, a horrible glitch in an otherwise pretty good life.

Except that there may be another explanation, one that asks us to go down a road we resist exploring. Question: Who among us, even those of us who are gentle souls, has not at some point exploded in anger and said things we never dreamed we would say? Further question: Where did all that nasty stuff come from? The answer I would like to suggest is not an easy one to hear - It comes from the dark place that lurks in all of us. It comes from a true self, a more honest self than the personna we raise to the outside world.

An ancient person in an ancient book with ancient wisdom put it this way:

Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' " (Mark 7:14-15)

The famous novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde illustrated it perfectly. The two men were one man, except that a drug released Mr. Hyde (an evil and nasty character) from Dr. Jekyll's personna. The facade of the good doctor was torn away so that we could see the Hyde within.

The darkness is there. It shocks and surprises us when it emerges, but it shouldn't. The solution is what this blog is all about. It can't be found in self-help. The darkness needs to be cleansed by the blood of the very one who told us about it.