Recently, I was
reading about how an ‘Individual A’ grossly attacked and bad-mouthed a group
of people simply because ‘Individual A’ did not agree with the views of
an ‘Individual B’, who is a member of this group.
Individual A uttered
disparaging words and stopped at nothing to trample on the values and identity
of these group of people as a way of getting back to Individual B. To Individual
A, everyone and everything around Individual B should be devalued and pulled
into a fight of words.
Individual A was on
the loose - caution had been thrown into the air.
In and around us,
there are a lot ‘Individual As’ who are running around like deadly cannons
ready to unload harmful words at a group of people they hardly know or
understand. To these ‘Individual As’, their fallouts with or lack of understanding
of the ‘Individual Bs’, should carry painful consequences for all that
is connected to the ‘Individual Bs’.
Goliath was an
example of an ‘Individual A’, who ran Israel down with demeaning words, more
so when one ‘Individual B’ – David, showed up in a battle with him and did
not meet his expectation of a challenger. David angered Goliath and entire Israel
would have to pay for it.
Unfortunately for Goliath,
he did not realize that Israel was a ‘part’ of a ‘whole’. The ‘whole’
responded - the God of Israel did not stay quiet and Goliath never had another
opportunity to utter any further words.
Attacking the ‘whole’
because of one’s displeasure with a ‘part’ is foolish and unsafe. Denigrating
an entire nation, a tribe, a community or a family because of one’s disagreement
with a person or a few people is appalling. For example, going after Christianity
because of the ‘sin’ of a single Christian is needless and a waste of time. Attacking
a nation because of one ‘bad egg’ is immature and a disappointment.
We should learn to take up our
issues with the ‘part’ and leave the ‘whole’ out of our
disparaging and childish renditions.
It is dangerous if we invite the ‘whole’ to a fight that should only have the ‘part’. We may underestimate the power of the ‘whole’ and thereby bring
unnecessary repercussions on ourselves. The strength of the ‘whole’ may overwhelm
and suppress us if the ‘whole’ decides to come after us.
