The Oscars Moment
I normally try not to express my personal opinions too openly on most issues, and I may go around the corner a bit to make my point with this one, but stick with me and indulge me for a moment.
It’s 2022. Many of us have figured out how to navigate the social and emotional pitfalls of simply living in the world we’re in today. Now, well into a pandemic, life is just different. Every last one of us has been exposed in some way, whether we’d like to admit it or not. Some of us, myself included, have embraced a vulnerability and transparency as a path to healing and encouraging others. There are some that open their lives much more than others are willing and that’s their choice. However, if done tastefully, I believe the general intention, genuineness, and overall goal remains.
The realization we should all see now is that the issues we face as a culture stem far beyond a pandemic. Unfortunately, there are those who have no intention of helping or healing others. When so many of us find our value in attention seeking, we show too much, we tell too much, and we have too much to say about quite a few things that don’t concern us. Society, in return, feels it has the right to hide behind keyboards and computer screens, and express its opinions concerning the actions, misjudgments, and humanness of others with absolutely no compassion at all. Lacking the ability to separate the real from the fake, we have systematically created a voyeuristic culture that allows us to hide, point fingers, post only the most beautiful parts of ourselves, and pretend we’re not just as jacked up as everyone else can be at times.
Sometimes we say things that cause unintentional pain. On the other hand, when you’re under tremendous pressure, and no one truly knows what’s going on behind closed doors, or is dealing with the pain you’re experiencing, being a punching bag gets old. In that one moment, everything can change. I have said things, knowingly and unknowingly, that I have lived to regret. I also thank God for the times that small but might voice whispered in my ear and for those angels that were placed in my path to stop me from slapping pissfire from some people I’ve encountered in my life. These opportunities for bad behavior have occurred both as a student AND professionally! In those moments I was so close to embarrassing my family, my colleagues, my university, friends, church family, and any other group that cared for and supported me. Will people behave in ways you wish they wouldn’t…and at times or places you think they ought not? Absolutely! But that’s called being human. You grow up! You live and you learn. And this thing called “growing up” can happen at 15 or 50.
By now you may know who and what this post is about. I’m sure I don’t even need to say it. It is my prayer that these two giants are able to mend whatever is broken, both individually and collectively. Prayerfully, some of us will discontinue the finger pointing, take a sobering look at ourselves, and have a bit more compassion for others. I didn’t share this to pick a side or condone negative behavior. I just believe it is important to extend the same grace to others that we ask of God for ourselves. We often do an excellent job of talking that talk. It’s a greater challenge to actually live in the faith we say we believe. You might be the straw…or you might be the camel. How will you react? How have you reacted in the past? Because we have all had an Oscars moment…it just wasn’t at the Oscars. Remember that.
