…as you want them to do to you.”
July 20, 2010 (Tuesday)
I’ve seen a few lists of late that bring me down. For instance, there is the list, “The Ten Worst Songs of the Summer.” Then there is “The Ten Worst Movie Characters of All Time.” And on the litany of bad stuff goes.
Coupled with this ugly trend are some of the shows on television about celebrities. Appropriately called, “gossip shows,” they also bring me down.
Added to this are the shows I never watch, but hear about, like “American Idol,” which features a cruel judge who crushes young people with surly remarks.
We have the lists of “the worst dressed” or “the ugliest hair styles.”
Why?
All these kinds of things do not lift up humanity; they tear it down. Our generation is getting quite good at being critical and unkind.
Whatever happened to the Golden Rule? And why have so many given up hope on lifting others with sincere expressions of appreciation and genuine words of praise and love?
When I was in Junior High, “Opinion books” were introduced. A person’s name was written at the top of a page that was passed around for written opinions of him/her. The school confiscated them and outlawed them. As a kid, I did not understand why they were so bad. As a grandfather, I now see it clearly. The Bible gives us something about this to remember every day: “Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31-32 MSG).