September 29, 2010

Guessing Games

Who doesn't like a good benign riddle?  It's fun to try to figure out a well written verse.  For instance, I really enjoyed reading The Learned Ladies.  It's a witty play written by Moliere.  The verse and wit flowed equally well throughout the script making it quite fun to read.  I'd love to see it performed.  I found myself laughing and rising to the height of the arguments along with the characters. 
But only from a distance.  I've discovered that once I've become too close, the fun and the intrigue lose some of their charm.  I guess the reason for that is simple. Once it becomes personal, there are too many questions that arise; too many ways to misinterpret the rhyme.  Or maybe if it's understood, I'm too slow to accept it.  Ambiguous phrases can't stand the test when they are applied to real situations.  You can walk away from a story or a play with questions that will never be answered but when that happens in life, it just doesn't cut it.  I may have written about all this before but I didn't take the time to look for it.  Anyway it's still on my mind so I'm writing now.
Sometimes folks put themselves in a position that is elevated above the general populace requiring special treatment by others or feeling that they deserve more than your average person who is expected to live within the confines of acceptable human behavior.  That due to some eccentricity they can act however they want and require exceptional treatment by those closest to them.  Their inflated vanity or sense of imagined elevated stature can often be the means of separating them from blessings and happiness.
It's easy for all of us to be judgemental of others and feel that we are beyond reproach for one reason or another.  But to find fault in the the labored decisions of others regarding matters of moral integrity, especially when their ultimate decision shows a consideration for their own future as well as that of those their future (and past actions) will impact and is a good example to those around them, is just self-centered and mean-spirited.  But then, for it to be discovered that the person so quick to judge has been repeatedly guilty of a much more morally damaging behavior which has tarnished their ability to relate and skewed their ideas of reality, is more hurtful still.  It's one of those times when you just want to scream, "What!!!!????? How can you make me feel like I've done something wrong when you have this huge, ugly mess on your own plate?"
So, yeah...how many times does that happen and we come away feeling bad about ourselves, second guessing the good decisions we've made only to find out later or maybe worse-to never find out at all, that the folks who made us feel that way have much more to worry about?
There's a good book called, "When People are BIG and God is Small"  that addresses some of these things. 

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