It’s been months since I blogged. Not that I haven’t had a lot of thoughts, observations, and musings . . . just not a lot of energy. My health, year one post-chemo, has not been good. I manage to catch every bug on the block and then hold on to it for weeks at a time. Enough on the medical front for now . . . I see my oncologist on Wednesday for my CT and X-ray results and to start my next round of chemo. Not fun, but necessary.
The Monday Morning Men’s Community is about finished with a challenging study of Proverbs by Dr. Tim Keller. As we studied "repairing relationships" this week, I certainly understood and identified with the problem.
I couldn’t help but think of Michael Richards and his damage control over his recent outburst. Here’s what he said, 
"I’m concerned about more hate and more rage and more
anger coming through, not just toward me but toward a black-white conflict.
There’s a great deal of disturbance in this country . . . and for me to be in a
comedy club and flip out and say this crap, you know, I’m deeply, deeply sorry.
And I’ll get to the force field of this hostility, why it’s there, why the rage is
in any of us, why the trash takes place, whether or not it’s between me and a
couple of hecklers in the audience or between this country and another nation."
Is it just me, or did he blame his hateful outburst on the war in Iraq???
The problem is that we too often convince ourselves that we’re the victims and that someone or something else is the real problem. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done it. It becomes a way of life. Spill hot coffee on yourself? Sue McDonalds! It’s not your fault! The tragedy is that it cuts deeply into relationships.
Here is just a bit of what Keller has to say:
If you smile on the inside when you see someone else
brought down, that is the
seed of hate. You may think you are concealing your
feelings, but they come out in your slanderous statements about the person. Anything
that is designed to diminish the person in someone’s eyes is slander. And this
leads to the destruction of community. Hatred and resentment twist you and
destroy you.
Someone wrongs you and you begin to feel and express ill
will. You begin to hope for that person?s comeuppance. You even tie your
happiness to their unhappiness. This is terribly distorting. The evil done to you is
distorting you. You are becoming what you hate. The wise understand this.
Lots to muse on about how to overcome it. Here are some thoughts that Jesus shared:
“Don’t
pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults — unless, of
course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of
boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be
oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me
wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this
whole traveling roadshow mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou
part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face,
and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.” — Matthew 7:3-5,
The Message
By the way, the ultimate solution is found in the squirrel.