It Used To Be All About Me
My parents never told me Santa Claus was real. I always knew it as them that put the presents under the tree. Even when other people in my family would write “From Santa” on the cards I knew. I played along, but I knew where those gifts were coming from. Later my parents explained to me the reason they did that was because they didn’t want me to find out later in life that they had been lying to me this whole time making me believe in something that was made up. As I grew up they didn’t want me confusing the imaginary Santa that they had lied about with the real Jesus that they had also told me existed, but I couldn’t see him and he did nice things for us. That’s always seemed to make sense to me.
This post has nothing to do with Santa.
Over the past few months I’ve seen, read and heard countless “influential” bloggers, authors and musicians suddenly come to a realization that for “so long it’s been all about me, but this time it’s different”. It’s typically coupled with some request for something or right before explaining some new venture they are about to embark on. They’ve come to their senses and this time it’s really not about them. This time it’s about the children, or the church, or the ministry, or the outreach. This time it’s different.
Well good Mr. Influential Blogger Guy. It’s nice to know that for however long you’ve been doing this that you’ve been lying to me and the masses that are following you. It’s great to hear that the campaign that you did last year that I supported was really just a ploy to get yourself attention and it turns out the whole thing was ‘all about you’. But at least now that’s different. It’s good to see that you’re coming clean now and I can fully trust your motives this time.
See, saying something like that doesn’t make you more authentic to me. It doesn’t make me want to support your cause this time around. It makes you someone I don’t want to trust again. It makes me feel like you burned me already by thinking that you were authentic last time. So, all you folks thinking that the best way to get someone to believe you is by saying that you lied last time, that’s not the case. In fact, I don’t need to hear it at all. Just start making things not about you and we’ll be just fine.
Anyone else notice this ‘tactic’ or am I the only one?
Exposed
Maybe it’s because it’s Sunday and I’m feeling “churchy”. Maybe it’s because I’ve thought too much about it. Or maybe I’m just being cheesy, but this busted tree got me thinking.
We’ve got two of these big trees in our front yard. Identical. They were planted (by someone else) at the same time and for the past ten years or so, they have grown together. They looked the exact same until the other night when a storm came through and decided to rip half of our tree on the right down. Kinda lame huh? Now after pretending to be a lumberjack I’ve got this little pile of wood and a half of a tree. The front is all exposed and all the leaves are on the back.
Now, I’ve had more than a couple people tell me what a bummer it is that the front of the tree is missing, rather than the back because that’s the part that everyone sees. That’s the side that we ‘represent’ our yard to the neighbors with. That’s what makes this tree look good. You see where I’m going with this don’t you?
Now, imagine if the back of this tree had been ripped off. It would look all symmetrical from the front. Matching the other tree and fitting in perfectly. No one would be able to tell there was any damage and we could all go on pretending that this tree hadn’t weathered a storm and continues to stand. The damage would still be there, it would still be half a tree, but at least the ‘public’ part would look good, right?
We love to pretend that our tree fronts are perfect don’t we? We love to show the public our full, leafy side. We don’t want anyone to know that we’ve been through it. Struck by lightning or pushed over by a storm. We don’t want people to see that we’re completely exposed if you just looked at us from a different angle. And you know what? Most people don’t want to even take the time to see that angle. They’d rather see the side of you that is symmetrical and ‘together’. Because then they don’t have to help.
It’s easier to drive through a perfect suburban neighborhood and see symmetry. See the fake. That’s what we show, and that’s what we are shown. Because it’s easier than accepting the fact that we’ve all had storms, and our front sides have been ripped off. And that sometimes all we are left with is a lame pile of firewood that we don’t even know what to do with because we have a gas fireplace that we never even turn on because it seems like a really stupid way to run up your gas bill.
What side of the tree are you showing the people around you?
Whoops
This is no good. I don’t know why people do the things they do…. but then again sometimes I don’t know why I do the things I do.
