I remember when I was attending grade school a situation that I suppose is pretty common. One of my fellow students had broken one of the rules of the classroom and our teacher had become aware of the transgression but not the guilty party. The teacher urged the guilty one to admit their action and receive the appropriate consequence. Depending on the offending action, the “consequence” might include not being able to go to recess or stay after school for a few minutes or if really bad, a visit to see Mr. Stewart, the principal.
Often, the offending student wouldn’t admit the action and so the teacher would ask the rest of the class to tell what they knew and disclose the identity of the guilty one. This created a very socially awkward situation for any grade-school student. The dilemma: do I tell the identity of the guilty one knowing that my fellow students and especially the guilty person is going to think poorly of me or do I keep quiet, perhaps disappointing my teacher but keeping my standing with my peers and not running the risk of acquiring the title of “teacher’s pet”. In most of these situations, the classmates kept their mouths shut and kept the guilty one out of trouble. This led to the teacher employing the “A Bomb”. The A Bomb is when in response to this stalemate the teacher decides that all will suffer the consequence of staying for recess until the guilty party is identified. Of course, the thinking behind this move was to put pressure on the guilty one to step up, take their punishment and life can go back to normal. The cry heard from the class of guiltless students is one of unfairness. Why should we suffer for the actions of another?
Sadly, this common grade school situation plays out in the adult world every day. The transgressions of the few are often felt by the innocent by way of added regulation, laws and procedures that serve to essentially treat good, sincere and responsible people as those in need of supervision and suspicion. We see it play out as discrimination and stereotyping of people based on a whole host of categories that are seldom based upon realty. I see it and have felt it in a new way now that I live in the South. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t like it! I don’t like people thinking they know me based upon where I live, the color of my skin, how much money I make or any other arbitrary thing like that. I suspect I am not alone but what can be done?
When I was in third grade, I had Mrs. Long as my teacher. She was nearing retirement when I was in her class, and she often seemed a bit grumpy. I noticed that she never resorted to the scenario I described earlier when dealing with troublemakers. She was always able to figure out the guilty party and mete out the proper punishment. How was she able to do that? I think one key to her success was really getting to know her students. When children misbehave, they are seldom clever enough to be able to not self-disclose it either through some shift in behavior or body language. Mrs. Long would bide her time. She might not figure it out today, but she always got the guilty party!
Maybe the secret for we adults today, and particularly those of us who are Christ-followers is to remember 2 very important principles in dealing with the world. First, we are to be people of great character who act responsibly in the situations we encounter in the world. We are working unto the Lord and that should mean giving our best because He and others are watching. Second, we should avoid the temptation to fall back into patterns that tempt us to judge people based upon things that they have no control. We should invest in people. Get to know them so we can discover who they really are. These values will also be largely respected by those in the world, even those who aren’t Christians.
Let’s think about this each time we head to the store or enter traffic or even attend worship. God created us as individuals who are unique. Let’s take a step back and celebrate that with the people in our lives today!
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