jakorte's blog

“Don’t want to discuss it
I think it’s time for a change
You may get disgusted
And start thinking that I’m strange
In that case I’ll go underground
Get some heavy rest
Never have to worry
About what is worst and what is best...” (Domino: Van Morrison)

I was not put in this earth to save anybody. That’s not my job. And it’s not yours either. No unearthly angels among us. We are earth bound doubters and sinners, sometimes lost, sometimes found, almost always directionally impaired. Not the sort of people you’d expect to be on GOD’s steering committee, but that’s our position. That’s where we sit, or stand, or walk the line, or walk away.

Not so long ago, I made a very flippant sarcastic remark, in response to what I considered a fairytale-esque unreality based statement about “what-should- happen” within a scenario that has time and again proven it would not be the case. I responded incredulously: “Do you even hear yourself?”

The reaction I received shocked me as much as the retort shocked the other person. On the receiving end it was interpreted as, “Don’t be stupid!” On the giving end, it was meant to be a lighthearted, “Let’s consider that pathway dead, and find a more reasonable expectation.”

Given some of the situations I’ve been witness and party to recently, I’ve stepped back a bit. I’ve begun silently asking myself that same question a lot more frequently. It does give me pause and causes me to think a nanosecond more before I speak. Mentally biting my tongue is making me a whole lot quieter. Being quieter leads to exaggerated introspection, and some speculative outer observations. Here is what I’ve deduced:

There are some who are just not happy. They do not want you to be happy. They don’t want anyone to be happy. And if you’re happy, it becomes their goal to change that. As believers, we assume it comes to fall on our shoulders to resolve conflictive issues. I don’t believe that’s really our role. We are not qualified and cannot be mediators between these people and GOD. All we can do is steer our own thoughts and actions to better places, lead by example, pray, and hope that they will follow.

Even within our limitations, we can surely derail the negativity. Pull out your bravery. Become a stop-gap. Redirect. Fight back with a sudden compliment. Sincerely compliment something: an outfit, a hairdo, anything you can find to like about that person at the very moment they are being the most hateful and destructive to your happiness or others’ happiness. Put some sugar in that boil. Turn up the heat to high-crack temp. Perhaps with persistence we’ll all end up enjoying some sweet-life, ego-dissolving, soothing, soul-resolving candy.