Monday, November 30, 2015

Empathy

I'm not sure who said this, but it's good.

"The torturer you should fear most is the one who sheds tears as he works."

I picked up that quote from another blogger and it was credited to R Scott Bakker, but I could not find proof of that. Nonetheless it is interesting.

If it's true, would this mean that someone who can empathize with you is in a unique position to make you miserable? Weaponized empathy. Now there's a concept.

I do not have much natural empathy. What I have, I have learned. Does this make me a sociopath? Well maybe, but it's not nearly as sociopathic as using empathy as a weapon. Still, the idea intrigues me. It's the cleverness of it I think. Using a virtue to harm someone is the ultimate in evil behavior is it not? I bet Satan has been doing this for millennia.

The things you can learn on the internet are awesome.

 Lisa Simpson: He's gone. Forever.
Homer Simpson: [still uncaring] And?
Lisa: I didn't think you'd understand.
Homer: [even more uncaring than before] Hey! Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand.

It Is What It Is...

That continues to be a popular expression in our culture because it captures so much about the way we process events. We see events that take place or that are in the process of unfolding and we do not question them. We just say 'it is what it is' and we move on and let others deal with whatever it is that is.

That's kind of what I'm feeling about yesterday. It was what it was. It was boring for my part. I sound like I am almost medicated in the video edition and I want to say that I was not...maybe too much caffeine, but that would be it. The sermon was good, but I was boring. I did not say what I would like to have said. Maybe it's good that I did not. I felt  kind of like a cog in machinery that I had no control over. That's Ok. It's over, very over.

There were many kind words and hugs afterward as there often is in the church setting, but I do not think this has really had time to settle in on the minds of the membership and what exactly it means for the future. I don't even know what it means and I was part of the machinery. There did seem to be much discussion in the church foyer around the coffee shop yesterday and the crowd seemed to have lingered much longer than normal, but that might be due to the fact that the service was long and 1030 Sunday school went past the normal release time. What they were talking about in the foyer may have had nothing to do with what we talked about in church. It was probably just the usual shallow conversation about new snow blowers and how bad Aunt Hattie looked at Thanksgiving.

I think when it all shakes out, there is going to be some resentment and anger to deal with. The people like me that were present are not going to be happy that I went public. If you think about it, I may have wrecked their peaceful lives. Anonymity has its advantages. I destroyed mine yesterday.  I am sorry if I endangered yours. I hope you will not fold up your tent. We need you, whoever you are. There were others there whose experience with gay people is not good. This mindset tends toward eradication. We are fine with having cockroaches as long as we do not know they are there. Once they make themselves known though, it is incumbent on us to call the exterminator.  Let me say that I understand that. I do not particularly like gay people either. They can be offensive in very creepy ways. They do, however, need salvation like the rest of us. It's amazing what God can do with us when given the opportunity.

I am dreading church next week for all these reasons.

If you are out there reading and you are Steve, I am sorry I could not do the coffee thing this morning. I needed to write this out to know what I thought. I was still asleep when you called, mostly because I could not get to sleep last night. My mind was in a fog this morning. I am finally waking up now. I try to be a morning person, but I am just not. Sorry Dude.

I'm sure that as the week goes on, more things will come to mind. My immediate assessment is that we did not do a good thing. We may have wakened a sleeping giant and filled him with great resolve...OR...  the rocks in the yard have been turned over. Nothing relevant to see there. Put them back. It does not look good having them turned over like that. More likely though, people will just move on and pretend like nothing has happened. That's what we tend to do in situations like this. I'm thinking that the entire effort was a waste of time and may have cost me something that I did not want to lose. I hope I am wrong. Maybe it's just the sleep deprivation. I need to go to work and not think about this anymore.