At the risk of sounding like a "serious blogger" I am going to break from my norm and write a serious post....
So as my friends and family know, I make copies for a living. Hey, it ain't pretty, but it pays the bills. I have learned quite a bit in my time with Kinkies, which I will not delve into in gory detail right now, but I do want to bring something to everyone's attention.
Why do Christians have to act like such terds? Now let's make sure that we are on the same page first. I am a Christian. I try to not act like a terd. At times I do act like a terd, but by and large I consider myself to be a kind and caring individual. This is not the case with many Christians that walk into the copy shop. Example.......
Lee- "How do these look sir?" (We are looking at a newsletter for his Men's group that is folded in half)
Terd- "This fold is horrible"
Lee- "I'm sorry, let me take a look at that."
(Closer inspection reveals that this guy is an anal retentive jerk, the fold being approximately 1-1.5 mm off)
Lee- "The fold looks pretty close, I can rerun them for you, but I am afraid that the machine is just not going to be dead on every time. (I pull out another to illustrate a fold that is dead on)"
Terd- "Well next time be more careful."
Lee "I will rerun them for you sir (terd), but I just wanted you to have all the information."
Terd- "No I will take these I just wanted to let you know that you should be more careful"
Lee- "Okay. That will be $"
This story may not seem like that big of a deal. I can't blame the guy for wanting a quality product, but the way he come across everytime he picks up his newsletter is so rude and condescending. And the scarry thing is that he is not alone. Many Christians that walk into Kinkies are this way.
Now I don't want to overgeneralize to society at large, but I have had a coworker on more than one occasion tell me that Christians are jerks. Some comments include
"Christans are always trying to get their stuff for free."
"Christian are always so picky"
"Christan are always so rude"
I could go on. My talk track that follows usually goes something like this,
"I know, I wish it wasn't that way. I am a Christian, and I hope that I don't treat people that way."
Usually I try to throw in that I believe Christans sometimes act like terds because they are forgiven, and they take advantage of that fact, but I don't always get that chance.
The other day I had a guy tell me, "What's so f*7^ing hard about this" in reference to copying something for him. (It was a church bulletin).
Are all Christians this way? Of course not. I help plently of kind Christians, but the average nonbeliver is not going to remember that person, they are going to remember the person that tells them they are an idiot, and who can blame them. We are held to a higher standard.
So what is to be learned of all this? Don't act like a total butthead when you are copying something that says, "HEY I AM A CHRISTIAN."? Well, yes it says that, but it also says to me, "Lee, are you showing Christ's love to this person?" "Lee, are you treating this person as though he or she is the least of these?" "Lee, are you treating this person as though he or she is Christ?"
Truly I have learned to be much more patient and understanding, and when I'm not, I am forgiven my Christ (as are the unnamed terds from the above examples). I will not depend on this, I will take my every action captive.
There is one thing I know for sure...The five minutes I save by being a jerk could mean an eternity for someone else!
Posted by Lee at April 6, 2004 11:33 PM