I guess this part is where I really am guilty and need to work.
Stupid People: No, not your definiton of stupid. I don't mean the people who are not smart or who just don't know a lot. I mean the people who have working minds just like anyone else, and refuse to use them, because they have either been trained not to, or are too lazy to bother. This is a rather broad spectrum, but I know I need to be more forgiving and just run with it. But they just plain annoy me. My dad refers to these people (not the same people as I think of, but this type) as Ignorant.
These are the people (mostly girls, but boyfriend/girlfriend will do it too) who will link arms across a sidewalk when it is snowing out and refuse to break their little chain when there are people walking in the opposite direction on the same sidewalk. I really don't mind when it is dry out and I can just step onto the grass, but when I have to walk in 6 inches of snow, just so they can hang on eachother.....
These are also the people who decide that the place to have lengthy conversations is in the only doorway into a room.
Stupid people seem to have a sense of entitlement too. If an area is your expertise, they EXPECT you to check their homework for them and even answer some of the questions for them. I don't mind doing it if someone needs help, but I will not assist them in cheating or check work that they were too lazy to even try at. If they won't work for it, they don't deserve the grade.
These people are also characterized by their dining hall ettiquette.
Chronologically: After chapel during the lunch rush, when the line to swipe the ID cards is 100ft out the main entrance, these people will go around to the other side of the building, go in upstairs, come down the steps and end up right in front of the scanner, where it is considered proper manners to let them cut, (unspoken rules, because the upper floors are a girls dorm). So while you are shivering out in the cold, these people who showed late (probably because of one of their lengthy doorway conversations) zip themselves right to the front of the line. (This is not so much stupid as just plain rude)
After scanning in, they will wander arond the dining hall for an extensive period of time, just kinda drifting from side to side, and making anybody who would like to pass them move around. When they have finally decided what they want, they will get in a line, then gradually try to move up as far as they can before finally getting to the food. It works especially well if they know you, because they will stand next to you and make a few pleasant remarks, then move up to the next sucker in line.
Now the rows of tables and chairs in the dining hall are rather close together, so it is rather important to be careful not to charge down the aisles and barrel into anyone, yet this is exactly what these people do. You may be halfway down a bottleneck with a full bowl of cereal, and here they come charging through the opposite end, not even trying to turn sideways as the pass, because after all that is your job.
After another lengthy conversation while blocking the dish conveyor their dining hall experience is over.
So that is the end of my rant. And I really feel bad about all this. I know that my descriptions in the first part were justification for treating people differently, it is no excuse for not loving them how Christ would love them.
I really want to be able to see everyone and love them without knowing anything about them, whether they are rich or poor, but too often I only think about loving the poor and needy and not about those people that I see every day who combine their various attributes to make sure I am praying for patience regualarly. A new Christian I was speaking with here said to me: "I have only been a believer for a short time, but if we are not all about loving people like He would, not matter what they do, then I think I've really misunderstood what this is all about." That was what started me thinking about all these things, especially since professing believers that I know fall into all of these categories. Even if I am not commanded to love the world, the Bible clearly states that "He who loves God but hates his brother is a liar and the truth is not in him."
Who annoys or makes you the most miserable? I think we need to pray for a changed heart for them, and clear perception and patience for ourselves.
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5 years ago
5 comments:
I think it's really great that even though it's hard for you, you're trying to love the people who drive you crazy with their insensitivity to everyone around them. Trying is a lot more than most people do, and I think that if you keep trying, you'll find ways to love them.
But watch out about praying for patience. My mother always told me that when she prayed for patience, her life got a lot more irritating, so she (jestingly) told me never to pray for patience. After all, how is God supposed to give you patience? He really just gives you opportunities to exercise patience so you can choose whether or not to do so.
"God, give me patience, and give it to me NOW!!!"
I loved this mini-series, Somnite. There are a few specific people and a whole bunch of general "types" that I find hard to love in my own life. It's definitely a place where I've been struggling lately and somewhere I've been devoting lots of prayers too!
Thanks for your posts -- amusing and thought-provoking, as always!
Totally agree with both Q and MSG(not monosodiumglutamate:). This post really came at the right time for me, as well. I mean, even though you know they're out there, it's always nice to know that there are other people struggling with the same issues and how they are dealing with it. Two-facedness, disrespect, stupidity(REALLY agree with you on that one), all of it has really been bugging me to death lately; especially two-facedness. But then I'm grouping a couple different types of people together with that, which may not belong together. There are peple who act one way with one crowd and then COMPLETELY different w/ another(sometimes that's "fitting in" other times it's just a taste of random stupidity) then there are the ones who act one way toward a certain person for a day and then turn around and act very different(viciously so) the next. Sometimes this is through provocation(in some cases then, it is justified), but when it isn't, it can be very straining on their "victom". Sorry, this is just a soapbox for me. But how do I (or you) deal with those kind of people? This is such a mystery to me, because I've had the opposite ideal ingrained into my life. I'm realizing how much God sends those kinds of people into our lives to better our own characters. If we never saw these faults, what would we strive to be (or not to be..."that is the question..."). Well, sorry if this comment fits into the extra-extrovert category(I tend to be lengthy), but this has just been on my mind. Oh yeah and, praying for patience...I definately understand what Q means(from experience), doesn't always work out the way you want it to... as with most of God's plans ;).
Q: Maybe you're right on the patience thing. Huh, I haven't asked for it yet, and this is what I'm getting what could it be like if I requested more?
Jeanz:Don't worry about a soapbox. I can choose to read it or not read it, you aren't shoving it in my ears. :) Hmmm.... As to your question about people who change their disposition towards people from one day to the next, I think that is going to be a whole new post.
Ah yes...shoving is ever so irritating.
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