Some events are un-tell-able in the public domain. Particularly the one that took place this morning while I waited for a member of the congregation to undergo an X-ray; suffice to say it involved an errant escaping intimate undergarment in a full crowded waiting room. I cringe every time I think about it and want to crawl in a hole and never emerge.
Yet driving home this evening I was thinking about how I would react or respond to someone else in the waiting room if I had witnessed the same indignity that I had subjected myself too. Frankly I would be embarrassed for the person; I would have been on their side and understood how awkward they must be feeling.
Jesus treated people unexpectedly according to the custom of his day. He showed a compassion and understanding particularly to individuals who were deemed either invisible or unworthy.
Of course there are nasty people out there and of course there are sociopaths and narcissists but on the whole when we do something silly or accidentally stupid I think the most judgmental of the lot is ourselves. Most people feel with us or empathize at our mistakes … maybe we should more often do the do the same with ourselves too.
In my case I think this one is going to take a decade of therapy.
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