I hope you’ll listen carefully
As I lay out the hard truth about my enemy.
He is charming and kind
Attractive and affable
Good-humored and clever
Generous and frugal
Intelligent and wise
Creative and resourceful
Helpful and proactive
Responsible and conscientious
Diligent and successful in his career
A loving and devoted husband and father
A man about whom there are many things to love.
That God makes himself vulnerable—
That he puts himself out there, available to be abused—
Is surely a stumbling block to those
Who find exposure a disagreeable policy
For their own lives.
Funny how a grown man
Can be pouting on the inside
So deep down that he will never
Realize it in a hundred grouchy years—
And if you asked him he’d probably
Deny it—clueless soul that he is—
Unless he goes down there
On purpose to find out
For himself what’s
The problem.
And then
After he has
Seen it he can
Cut it out and get
On with the growing
He had grinched himself
Out of —all the time thinking
Himself more mature than that.
I saw this meme on Facebook, and immediately liked it and disliked it!
Continue reading Is the “Internal Struggle” an Exemption from Responsibility for How We Treat Others?Always be prepared
For the fools to protest
That your wrestling them free
From the muck of stupidity
Is not love.
This is such a tough principle to navigate! How much should we “stand our ground”, and how much should we simply let people be the people they are, even if it steps on our toes?
I think this is one of the greatest philosophical questions we face as humans, and how we face it says a great deal about what kind of people we are. (And I don’t think I understand it all myself—just that it’s of huge importance.)
Continue reading What Should I Tolerate?