Cant we all just get along?????

Have you ever been around one of those know it all type people who make statements and judgments about people that they don’t even know?   

Have you ever been around one of those people who think that their way is the only way and that anyone that doesn’t adhere to their way is wrong or stupid?

One of those people who feel the need to boss everyone around them even though they are not the boss?

A lot of my “mental stress” of late has been because of such a person that probably doesn't even knowing they are doing it because it is so much a part of their “personality”. 

There have been a couple of instances in my life where I ended a friendship because it became such a problem to be around that kind of negativity and judgmental attitude.  In this particular case, the person is not a friend but is someone that through circumstances I have to be around frequently.  For the foreseeable future anyway, I have no choice but to deal with this person. 

There used to be a woman that I worked with that no one liked because she simply had this “air” about her, as if she thought she was so much better than everyone else.  She rarely spoke to anyone when she was around, and she carried herself in a manner that indicated she thought she was better than anyone.  First impressions can be wrong and for those of us who had the opportunity to spend a little time with her, we found that she was very genuine and a very nice person who, in fact was very insecure.

Somehow, I don’t think that’s the case with this person.  As she masquerades about as this Christian person, making snide, disparaging remarks about people she doesn’t know and hasn’t taken the time to get to know, you get the feeling that she thinks that is just the way you are supposed to act.

If there is compassion there, I don’t see it.  And that makes me both angry and sad at the same time.  Angry that she feels the right to bash others she doesn’t know and sad that she thinks she is not doing anything wrong.  I wonder if she realizes that her isolation is not only self imposed (because she makes no effort to interact) but that is also a form of self preservation by those around her.  If she’s that ugly about people she claims to like or in some cases doesn’t even know, why would anyone want to fall victim to her.  Better to smile, keep your distance, keep the peace and know that she will eventually get  a taste of her own medicine.

In light of my recent blog in which I related Christ’s commandment to Love the unlovable, it occurs to me that this person is a very real test of whether or not I am truly capable of doing that.  Today, I don’t think so. 

You think that once you get past a certain age…say 12…that bullying would stop.  Maybe it’s not ganging up on some poor unfortunate nerdy kid on the playground and not letting them be in the “club”, maybe it’s not a group of older kids making a younger kid cry, maybe it’s not one girl making up and spreading lies about another girl……sometimes it’s an adult woman who makes an insensitive remark about someone that she doesn’t know that who happens to be going through a difficult time in her personal life.  Maybe it’s an adult woman who tells someone the wrong way to do something just to watch them fail.  I guess that even in the adult world, cliques exist.  Unfortunately, there is not much that can be done.  Self- righteous people will always exist.   There will always be people who take pleasure in other’s pain. 

Sometimes, you have to speak up.  Sometimes it’s best to turn the other cheek.  Today I spoke up for someone that was being criticized and labeled unfairly.  I am sure that I will be the next victim because I dared to speak up.  I’m ok with that. 

Somewhere in the Bible is a verse which think is something like this

 No weapon formed against you shall prosper.

I think in a very real sense the unkind or untruthful words spoken against you are a weapon.

 I am depending on God’s defense.