The Great Measure of Discipleship
I found this talk extremely interesting, because it really made it known that the way we view each other is different every day, that the view of other people is a choice, and it should be a choice to view people for the better as Christ would.
There were five objects that the speaker talked about, which are relatively unimportant compared to the meaning behind them. The first meaning is that sometimes instead of seeing someone as a person to be served; we see them as a task to be accomplished. I have seen this in my life, where when I really didn’t want to do visiting teaching, and didn’t really know the sisters that I visit taught, I would just go and share the lesson because that’s what was expected of me. This should never be the case, people are not part of a checklist that you just cross off, we need to treat them as the individual person and wonderful person that they are.
The second view that was mentioned was that we see others not as an individual, but as a member of some group. This is typical “stereotyping” saying that someone will be some way because we have a general idea of how they should act, since they are a certain race, ethnicity or religion. For example you see someone that is African American, what do you think about them? He is wearing baggy jeans, a big white shirt, with some Timberland boots. What are your thoughts about him?
The third view that he mentioned was that we see someone as an annoyance, simply endured, or avoided all together. When someone is calling you and you don’t take that phone call just because “you’re too busy right now” or you will call them back later. For some reason that person called you and you never know if they need your help right now. They need to be treated with respect and feel like they are a person as well, not an annoyance to you.
The fourth view that he mentioned is that we view others as an interruption. We get so busy in our lives today that we rarely take time to sit down and really chat with someone. To honestly ask how they are doing, and want a real answer. When you are tired and want to relax will you tell your friend to hang on? Or you’ll call them back later, because you have to take a nap right now? They are interrupting your life and your schedule but did you ever think of why they were?
The last and final view point is seeing other as a mirror. Meaning we don’t really care about helping that person or keeping them as a friend, but we are extremely aware of how it would look if we were rude or not nice to that person. Meaning that we do the things we do towards someone because we want it to look good for us.
All of these views are negative, and most of the time we don’t even realize that we are doing them. The best way to figure out how to better ourselves and try to view others better and more Christ like, is to realize that we are doing something wrong.
A good example of this is me sitting in the Cross Roads just observing people. I did this for about 10-15 minutes just kind of watching people and trying to figure out my first impressions. Some of the things that I noticed was that one person came and sat with me that I didn’t know, he was very polite and nice, but I didn’t say a word to him I just ate some food and looked around. I don’t know why I did that, but it definitely was not very nice. Another person walked by and had kind of a limp/walked a little funny. At first I thought dang that really stinks! How does he get from one class to another with a back pack that looks so heavy? There are some other people that I observed as well, but I won’t go into telling you what I thought of every single person walking by. I just know that I definitely have something to work on for this next week, and this next lifetime to better myself. I have a mixture of all the viewpoints depending on what I’m doing at the time and what’s going on around me. I do know that it is a difficult task to not judge someone and view them in a different way that what you originally view them. First impressions are very strong and it’s really hard to get yourself to not have those first impressions about people that you don’t even know.
It’s extremely hard for me because I’m going to be transferring soon and I feel like “why should I get to know these people I’m just going to be moving soon?” But I need to learn to be more kind and courteous, definitely need to help myself to remember that everyone is a child of God and their soul is of great worth. When you think of people in this way instead of just an object it really helps to put things in perspective.
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