Why do you see the speck in your
neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Luke 6:41 (NRSV)
Michael Phelps laughs during the Star
Spangled Banner. A female gymnast doesn’t put her hand over her heart while the
National Anthem plays. US swimmers have strange circles on their skin. What is
going on? Do they have no respect for flag and country? Are they doing
something strange or illegal? Are they so special that they get to ignore the protocols
the rest of us adhere to? It would seem that time and time and time again
people see something and they jump to a very severe conclusion. They assume the
worst and immediately lash out at whomever they believe has done a wrong and
committed a slight. What often is the case is that there is some simple and
often times mundane reason for what has been seen.
Michael Phelps’ friend in the stands
did a hometown thing while the Anthem played and he laughed, just like you or I
would have. That gymnast, she was so caught up in the moment that she just
forgot to get her hand up on her heart. It happens to us all and we’ve never
been on the gold metal platform. Those circles, come from an ancient oriental
procedure called cupping that is supposed to help increase blood flow and help
heal sore muscles. Simple, even mundane explanations, nothing sinister or
freakish just normal things we all would do.
So why is it that people want to see
the ominous, the disturbing, the negative when they observe these things? Next
time you are at a ball game notice how many people don’t remove their hats, talk
and laugh, and ignore the National Anthem when it is played. Are they all un-American?
Disrespectful of our nation and its flag? Are they all protesting something or
making some kind of statement by their willful neglect of the hollowness of the
moment? No! They forget they have a hat on. They are enjoying their friends and
family and laugh at something. They are caught up in some memory or moment and
just space out the anthem. Nothing untold, just what happens.
And yet we always seem to be ready to
find a conspiracy or wanton disregard for what is right and true whenever we
see something that we don’t like. I do it. I have to catch myself and check to
see what it is that has gotten me to jump to a conclusion that isn’t the most
likely or even most obvious. Maybe we should operate by Occam’s razor – “Among
competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected.”
Or as I paraphrase it in my own life, “The simplest explanation is usually the
right one.” If we all operate this way then a lot of misunderstandings,
inaccurate conclusions, and unsubstantiated conspiracies[T1]
could be avoided.
I think it all has to do with being nice. With assuming that
most people are basically good, caring, honest people. With a willingness to
let trivial things just pass without comment or reaction. Not very many people
are out to get you. Not very many folks are deliberately trying to disrespect
you or the country or whatever. Not very many people are out to make vicious protests
against our way of life. By making mountains out of mole hills (one of my dad’s
favorite sayings) we fan the fire of distrust, of animosity, of discord, and it
furthers the divide between “us” and “them.”
In a world where people spew hate and sow discard at every
turn we need people who are willing to be nice. Willing to let someone merge in
front of them on Highway 26. Willing to forgive an inadvertent slight. Willing
to hold the door. Willing to do simple, polite and nice things for others.
Almost all the stuff that gets to us are moles hills and if we see them as such
then they don’t have nearly the influence or sway on us that they would if we perceive
them as mountains.
Dear God, help me to take a breath. Help me to allow for the
possibility that things are not as bad as they seem. Help me to practice being
nice in place of jumping to conclusions and assuming the worst. Help me to live
as you would have us all live, respecting others and caring for this world and
all its people. Amen.
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