Meekness
Meekness is having the power to respond in force and choosing not to. I feel like I’ve written that here before.
There is way too much going on in my life right now. Future and current decisions to be made. None of them small. All of them important.
It is at times like these that one (read: MEH) needs to stop, take inventory of life, and calm down, because sometimes things present themselves as an outlet to release frustration and rage. But that doesn’t always mean it’s a good thing.
Righteous indignation is a beautiful thing. Having the complete and utter moral footing and height over someone else, which allows you to drop kick them in the mouth. And it would be glorious. But wrong. Probably. You think of Jesus in the temple with the whip and the table throwing and the quickly dispersing, slightly brusied robes and I’m happy. But that was specifically about that scene. I can’t say the same, competely, or honestly, for my situation.
Oh yes, I am well within my rights to say various things, it’s moving beyond those which is the problem. Staying to what is relevant and not passive-aggressive, or simply mean. I have the paper work, the back up, the signed documents to display, all saying “you are an idiot: I have proof,” in a nice way; But beyond that . . . there really is no reason to bring up someone else’s daddy issues, failed life choices, or myopic nature into the mix. That would just be mean. It would feel good, but it would be wrong. Jesus wouldn’t smile.
And there it is: meekness. Knowing the power you have and chosing not to weild it. Knowing that silence might be the best tool. Or trying to pray, again, for the situation. Or simply keeping your head down for little while longer. Running out the clock.
sigh.
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The nature of the idiot — While I don’t know the specifics of your situation, it sounds all too familiar (and probably so to anyone who reads it, each in his own way). As a point of reflection, I offer my own very “math-minded” solution to dealing with the idiots I run across in my daily endeavors.
If the idiot is hurting no one but himself, he can be blissfully ignored, unless it is someone about whom I genuinely care. But even then, I have discovered that one who has set himself on the road to his own damnation with complete determination to see through his own destruction cannot be deterred from it by even our most dogged efforts of the best meaning friend.
If the idiot in question in hurting only me, then I can weigh the consequences of addressing the situation with him or just ignoring it. I feel no moral imperative either to act or to remain silent, as the consequences of those actions will only be of benefit or detriment to me.
However, if our idiot de jour is acting so as to hurt others, who, by their place in life (the system, the organization, etc.) have little choice but to suffer because of Idiot’s actions, then I think we have a moral responsibility to act — sometimes subtle, sometimes overtly aggressive, but in some manner to act.
Here endeth my two cents’…