The harm happens because we are trying to do something that is not possible. A person cannot save another person. The only person that can save said person is themselves. Saved and savior.

Why do we think we can “save” people anyway?

What does it mean to “save” someone? Saving indicates an awakening. A change of path or destiny. To switch from the dark to the light.

The kind of rescuing I’m talking about is when we try to save someone from themselves. To rescue them from what we perceive as their bad choices, habits, or lifestyle. But that requires a removal, or a change in the other person which we have no control over. We act, though, as if we do have control when we try to influence their behavior with our actions. With our “love.” With our religion.

It is easy to write-off rescuing as a good thing. We only want what is best for the other person. They are in a rough place and we know how to get them to a better place. They are not living a good life and we know how to fix it.

We make it sound noble and good.

How is it not?

When we attempt to rescue people we make assumptions about them that blinds us to them. We become so set on setting them straight that it shifts from love to control (or maybe it was control in the first place.)

If we only want people to live the best possible life, maybe we should dare to imagine that we do not know what the best possible life is for them.