#jonathan hamilton

[sizska]

Artist: Jonathan Hamilton

[elfgirls]

Teleria by Jonathan Hamilton / Tsuaii

[sizska]

Artist: Jonathan Hamilton

[sizska]

Artist: Jonathan Hamilton

[wutbju]

In March 2020, Jim Scudder interviewed Shelly Hamilton for his YouTube channel, InGrace.TV. You can watch Part 1 and Part 2. 

The Hamiltons have been through some very, very deep waters with Ron’s cancer, his early onset dementia, and with their son Jonathan’s very tragic death. Jonathan suffered from clinical depression, and Shelly talks about it frankly and transparently in the interview’s second part. 

Mrs. Hamilton mentions that she gets many Facebook messages from suffering people. In her responses, however, Mrs. Hamilton resorts to the usual victim-shaming “bitter” trope:

I think whatever happens to us cannot make us bitter, it only hurts the bitter person, not the one whom the bitterness is aimed at. If you hold bitterness in your heart and do not have a forgiving spirit, even when you have been justifiably mistreated, you are not doing what Christ commands of you.

We need to cast this aside entirely, Christian sisters. I honestly believe that the trope is an attempt to convince the sender of the message more than the receiver. If we deliver the message “don’t be bitter,” then we are not bitter, and we project that possibility on someone else. 

It’s a silencing tactic, an attempt to check a box and call it done. No, we must weep with those who weep. Our job is not to stay sweet, smile often, and be chipper. We must do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly. That’s our job. Rebuking each other for not mourning like we think they should is not in the list.