As a fan (and I use that term more and more loosely lately) of The Office, I remember a scene where Michael Scott had a suggestion box that was supposed to be used by the staff.
This box, in theory, was to be checked by Michael to take everyone’s concerns into consideration. Thing was, he never used that.
Lately I’m thinking of creating my own virtual Suggestion Box and filing people’s opinions into it.
Don’t get me wrong. There are lots people in my life I love and I value their input – to a point.
Speaking as a serial people pleaser, it can get very tiring trying to live up to everyone’s opinions and perceptions of you (real or imagined). Trust me. I’ve done it my entire life.
And since I’ve stepped out of that “box”, so to speak, I’ve incurred a lot of head-and-heartache. Most of which started when I got my first tattoos. Tattoos are a touch subject. I get it. As far as I can tell, there is only one section of the Bible dealing with the topic (Leviticus 19:28), and from what I’ve read, it’s one of those “in context” verses where the Israelites were given certain instructions pertinent to that time period. I may be wrong. But I ask, why don’t we follow Paul’s teaching about women in the church, but we thrown out a verse from Leviticus when it comes to tattoos? Am I the only person that finds that a little odd?
There’s also the topic of alcohol. Another “hot topic”, especially in the Christian realm. I don’t want to start a debate, but the Bible is ambiguous on the topic, at best. It only clearly talks about not being drunk (Ephesians 5:18).
We could go over a whole host of topics, but I’m the one writing, and I don’t want to 🙂
I, too, am an opinionated person. But here’s the thing. I try to share those opinions in generalities. Meaning, I’ll post about a political topic or ethical topic, but those are my feelings. Would I like you to share them? Sure. Will I heatedly debate them with you? Probably. However, I feel (and correct me if I’m wrong), that I don’t “insert myself” into other people’s lives and share my opinions about their personal behavior often – if ever.
And that’s what’s basically happened to me, off and on, for the last couple years. I sometimes wish people could see the hurt and agony their well-meant (at least I hope well-meant) words cause. Perhaps they would reconsider them. Perhaps not.
I do appreciate when people feel they see something and share, but it does get tiring as well. Although, at this point in my life, I feel I’ve gotten used to taking it. It’s pretty much what I do.
The lyricist Sean Carter once said, “If you don’t like my lyrics, you can press fast forward.” I think that’s the strategy I will try to adopt. If you don’t like my (fill in the blank), press “fast forward”, if you will. Keep moving along.