So what is it in humans that they feel compelled to insult, belittle, and attack complete strangers? I am "dog sitting" my parents' dog while they are in Redding helping Jamie get ready to move up here to Spokane. While I was walking him around the neighborhood this evening, a couple of guys working on a house nearby started making "interesting" comments directed at me. Why? What is the point? Why do a couple of guys decide that it would be entertaining to hurl insults and taunts at an innocent passerby?
Instantly, my mind started filling with painful, witty comebacks that I wanted to throw back at them like lightning bolts. Why? Why is that my initial response? Is it conditioning? Nature? My culture? When I was in high school it seemed like those with the best comebacks and the best witty insults were the ones who were "on top" of the social order. That is what I felt like when all the comebacks were flooding through my thoughts.
The truth is, I think a lot of people don't really know how to love others. All we are used to is attacking others and separating ourselves from others. I guess it really isn't that odd if you think about it. God created us to connect with others in relationships - and to connect with him in relationship. Therefore, the best way to attack God's purposes would seem to be by attacking those relationships. Yet Jesus shows us that we don't have to attack and belittle others in order to be "on top". A life like his truly was, and is, an amazing thing. It completely reverses the "natural" order of things that we are used to.
In the end, I guess I just hope that I can gradually change even more. I was glad that I didn't blurt out any of the comebacks that I was thinking, but hopefully one day my mind will be filled with thoughts of how I can love someone like that in a practical way. One day at a time I guess.
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