This is a topic, a personality flaw, that has been written about time and again. It doesn't matter whether you are from the Carl Jung or Sigmund Freud school of thought. It doesn't matter whether you know your id from your ego. Everyone agrees on the root cause of the problem. The issue is our ability to tear others down to build ourselves up. The root cause is insecurity in who we are and how we live. We move, subconsciously at times, down this path and it does not matter if we are with a group of people we know or all by ourselves. "I can't believe that she wore that dress", "He's the laziest person in our department", "Look at that piece of crap that she drives around in". How many of us can recognize ourselves in lines like these? Come on now, I should not be the only one with my hand up. This flaw is akin to the gossip, who distorts and repeats things heard in confidence. The gossip monger has as their goal to build themselves up by making others look bad and demonstrating their superior knowledge of the lives of others. A relevant word from scripture for those of us who suffer from this affliction comes from Proverbs 21:23, "Those who guard their mouths and tongues keep themselves from calamity."
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tear Down, Build Up
This is a topic, a personality flaw, that has been written about time and again. It doesn't matter whether you are from the Carl Jung or Sigmund Freud school of thought. It doesn't matter whether you know your id from your ego. Everyone agrees on the root cause of the problem. The issue is our ability to tear others down to build ourselves up. The root cause is insecurity in who we are and how we live. We move, subconsciously at times, down this path and it does not matter if we are with a group of people we know or all by ourselves. "I can't believe that she wore that dress", "He's the laziest person in our department", "Look at that piece of crap that she drives around in". How many of us can recognize ourselves in lines like these? Come on now, I should not be the only one with my hand up. This flaw is akin to the gossip, who distorts and repeats things heard in confidence. The gossip monger has as their goal to build themselves up by making others look bad and demonstrating their superior knowledge of the lives of others. A relevant word from scripture for those of us who suffer from this affliction comes from Proverbs 21:23, "Those who guard their mouths and tongues keep themselves from calamity."
