I didn’t blog last week. And that’s OK. I was prepared to accept the penalty but since I had never imposed a penalty on Sam when HE didn’t blog we decided to just call it even and reset the “penalty box”. I guess you might ask “So what’s the purpose of a ‘penalty box’ then?!”…and my answer would be…I don’t know…I’m not perfect!
It seems like the biggest hypocrisy these days is to condemn those who are not perfect while excluding ourselves from condemnation for as long as possible. It also seems like there is little time wasted on the condemning and even less time spent on forgiveness.
It can be a fine line, I know. When I find myself discplining my grandson, I sometimes have to check myself on whether I want him to learn something or do I want to show compassion. I do feel in that situation however, that I KNOW who I’m dealing with. We have a history and know in general what we’re thinking…or in my grandson’s case how he’s NOT thinking…teenagers!
When it comes to someone I don’t know as well (or perhaps at all) well then…who knows what’s going on?! I don’t know what’s going on in their head, their life, their world. I can claim “common sense” should prevail. But sometimes circumstance dictates what someone does as opposed to what we see them doing. I think it was William F. Buckley who once said “The Russians would call a man who pushes an old lady into an oncoming bus AND a man who pushes an old lady out of the way of an oncoming bus both men ‘who push old ladies around’!”
So Sam and I will not wear embarrassing T-shirts for our digressions. He’s OK with that, I’m OK with that…you should be alright with it.
Peace!
