Here's what I think:
It is not our job to make others unhappy. In fact, our job is quite the opposite. We are sent here not to be troublesome, not to pick at minor flaws, not to be unnecessarily bitter and mean; rather, we are put here to be more understanding, loving - to act in such prophetic empathy that we indicate Christ's life itself. We are human. We are sinners. Under that 'bitch's' or that 'asshole's' circumstances - with her upbringing, childhood, mental illness, heartache, genetic make-up, scars, everything - you would have done exactly the same thing. There is no special part of your soul that makes you more likely to do the right thing; there is no 'spark' in you that makes you good and other people bad. There is nothing about you - raw, stripped-down, bare you - that makes you better than any other person. If you do the right thing, it's because God has blessed you with the discretion and the motivation - a result of many things, an upbringing or a strong conscience or whatever. And when you do the wrong thing - because inevitably you do - it is not any bit excusable for the reason that you do the right thing most of the time, or do the right thing more than others do - or for the reason that you think you had justification or are somehow unique in a way most other people aren't.
This humility, combined with a love of God, should motivate us to love other people. Not to judge them, or be continually annoyed by them, or idealize them, or to think they're stupid, but to love them. Loving people does not equal talking behind their backs or acting mean or making snide remarks or calling them stupid or judging them, ever.
How do we forget so easily that we are to love?
If you're so convinced they are wrong (Bill and Ann), if you are so intent on changing them, you should remember that you're not going to change people if you don't love them. That's just not the way it works.
And there's not much point in it any other way.
It's occurred to me that you don't have to be going somewhere to be doing something worthwhile. As a senior in high school, I'm tired of 'going places'. I'm ready to settle down a bit, and start doing the things I want to do. Because, after all, I could die before I get old. And I want to have something done by then.
Which is not to say I'd like to stop making progress. On the contrary, I'd like to start. Because, you know, you can't make any progress when you're always working towards leaving the place you're in.
My little brother ordered some stuff off the Invisible Children website and it came in the mail today (and by today I mean somewhat recently - this post has been a draft for a while). (I love that kid. He definitely figured many things out much earlier than I ever did - he's twelve.)* What he bought was a t-shirt and bracelet. What he got was a t-shirt, bracelet, about four boxes, a DVD, lots of cardboard and foam, some pieces of paper about what he bought and about some more stuff, and also lots of cool colors and stuff. The excessive use of the word 'stuff' in this paragraph (count: 4, I think) was unintentional, but I think it provides an accurate implication as to the thematic focus on 'stuff' here. The Invisible Children organization has sure got it right. When I send my money to them, I really just want stuff. I might act as if I'm trusting them to give my money to people in Uganda that need it, but that's just a fallacy because what I really, really, deep-down-inside want is some nice, squishy non-biodegradable packaging material. And (I'm speaking to the people who run Invisible Children here) make sure you hire at least one more designer because you decorated the DVD case (note the use of a box! Not even just a DVD slip like NetFlix uses!) just fine but the outside of the box was just a little dry for my taste - try some more color!
Ultimately, though, Invisible Children people, I'm impressed with you. You're doing a fine job. I really respect all the money you put into production and salaries and stuff. You even put an extra piece of cardboard around the DVD box in case it fell open or something. That, on top of all the styrofoam - you can never be too careful! And here's the kicker - I went to your website, to check out your financials, and nobody will ever guess what I found. More colors and neat designs and emotionally swaying pictures and stuff!! Right there, on the annual report. So, thank you. I really feel, here, that I have "become part of the story".
Interesting to me that an organization cannot motivate our society to give money to a people without any without exploiting our flashing-lights, smoke-and-mirrors materialism - they have to make cool videos and provide the option of neat clothes and make it attractive to lure us in. I'm disgusted by all parties. Myself included and above all.
(I understand that this was unnecessarily caustic. Invisible Children, I really don't hate you, I promise.)
*Placing groups of parenthesis right exactly next to each other except for a measly period and space is the new cool, if you didn't know.
Speaking of materialism, who knows the brand Not of This World? This is a brand marked by the fashions of the time - trendy, changing, tight - with a Christian message. I don't really have anything against this brand or anything, but it kind of bothered me when I noticed that its chosen, official Bible verse is Colossians 2:8: "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." What is this organization doing if not catering to the world? If not trying dearly for manipulative persuasion? - "Christians can be cool, too! You don't have to be unpopular to be a Christian. Look! I believe in Jesus and belong to the world, and am desperately clinging to this fallen nation."
I am an idiot. I just had one of the most humbling experiences of my life. I am an idiot. I got done writing the bit on Invisible Children, and then went back and read my bit on loving at the beginning of the post, and what a punch in the gut. I am such an idiot. I think I'm gonna publish this anyway, just so everyone knows what a jerk I am.
Currently reading:
the Bible
Death of a Salesman (or, rather, should be reading - it's for school)
the latest issue of PopSci, yay!
nothing. :(
Currently listening to:
Jon Foreman (guess what: his song, "White as Snow" -> Psalm 51)
Wavorly (guess what: their song, "Sleeper" -> Ephesians 5:14. I think.)
Something Corporate
Esterlyn
