I Left Junior HIgh Many Years Ago

This is a pet peeve of mine. I am no longer in junior high or even high school and yet so much of that mentality seems to exist especially on Facebook. There are cliques and groups and bullying and you name it. But, my pet peeve is this junior high attitude that people want to tell you who you can talk to and who you can not talk to.

I am open and what you see is what you get. If you know me, you know I am honest and that I do not play games. I am also an adult and capable of deciding who I will talk to and who I will not talk to. I am not going to drop people just because someone else does not like them. If you really are my friend, then you KNOW me well enough to know I am not going to betray you and that I am not involved in ugliness. I am simply refusing to hurt others just because others do not like them.

And if you think that trying to force me to choose whom I talk to works with me…think again. I am an adult. I talk to many people…not daily…maybe even not weekly but I certainly do not just block people because other friends do not like them. I believe in loving all and in trying to be kind and open enough so that maybe some thing I say or do in love will touch a spark in someone else and leave them feeling better. I can not base my actions on what others do.

image from reecerants.blogspot.com

This is one reason I do not care for Facebook. It brings out the junior high mentality, the paranoia and the insecurities in people. And so, what do they do? They try to exert control to make themselves feel better. Bad thing is…I do not control well.   I do not hate anyone. I do not waste my time on hate. So, if you hate someone, do not expect me to hate them just because you do. Life is too short for that. I do not approve of everything everyone does. Heck, I do not always approve of everything I do because I am human. That is how we learn.

But most of all, please do not act all “Christian”  and yet, you are hating others and want others to ostracize them too. That is NOT Christian. Jesus sat down with the sinner…and folks we are all sinners. I try to treat everyone the same. I may not agree with all you do but I am not going to disrespect you for your beliefs, nor am I going to hate you for your actions, nor am I going to refuse to see you as a creation of God and refuse to see any goodness in you. Is it not time people stopped the hate and started seeing that others have good in them too. We can not do the “say one thing and act another” for it soon catches up with us.

Thank God freedom of thought and speech is still alive. Yes, it comes with responsibility and with consequences. If I do not like what you say or what you do…I simply am not part of that. But, I still believe in the innate goodness of people and so even when I do not like what you do, I still believe you have good in  you.

And while I still believe in the goodness in the world…I also still believe in myself being part of that goodness in the world. And that means, I should not contribute to the ugliness in the world by junior high attitudes and by hating others and by acting like I think I am better when I am being just as judgmental if I try to get everyone to hate someone and yet say I am a kind and loving person. Does not jive does it? And it certainly is not very Christian. What is that quote “love the person and hate the sin”. Is it not time we started seeing the actions and hating the actions instead of the person?