Insert object of disdain here...
Posted by: Pastor Dave Lee | Thursday October 2, 2008
File under: Perspectives & Pleas
You see them everywhere. Window decals of Calvin urinating on the object of someone's disdain. I think those stickers illustrate a very interesting human tendency to create polarities and choose sides. Think Mac vs. PC, Nikon vs. Canon, Cubs vs. Sox, Ford vs. Chevy trucks (sorry Dodge truck fans), just to name a few. And while I've defintely taken my stand on one side of several of those rivalries, I have to admit that the real differences between the two things being compared can actually be quite few.
So what is it in us that makes us so passionate about our preference for one thing over another, even when they are really not that different? I mean, have you watched a Cubs fan and a Sox fan go at it lately? And even between things where there are substantive differences, such as Democrat vs. Republican, the passion with which people stick to their sides does not always seem to arise primarily from issues. I wonder how many people on either side of the political aisle could clearly and intelligently articulate their party's or their candidates stand on all the key issues of the day.
As I've reflected on why we feel so strongly about the sides we take, I think maybe some of it has to do with a deep human need to belong to, or identify with, something. That affiliation is certainly more rewarding when your side wins some sort of contest (World Series, election, etc.). But even when your side is losing, it seems important to us as humans to care passionately about something, whether that fierce loyalty makes logical sense or not. Just talk to any Cubs fan and you'll begin to understand. Sometimes our present loyalties are rooted more in our history. We love what we first knew, or what someone important to us taught us to love. We can arm ourselves with a list of reasons why, but in the end it is not so much about reasons as it is about how we see ourselves or who we want to be loyal to.
This has led me to consider how much the loyalty that I feel toward Christ and Christianity arises from a fresh and informed conviction day after day, or it is just a mindless defense of the side I've chosen. Am I a Christian simply because I was born into a Christian family and took for myself the faith of parents I deeply love and respect?
And I certainly hope that I can lift up the beauty and virtue of Christ and his way of life without having to resort to the conversational equivalent of having Calvin urinate on something or someone else's treasure.
Now, if I could just apply that same line of thinking to the way I feel about Apple computers, maybe I'd have more friends. :-)
Comments
In my RSS feed, I saw the following text (image not included) and I HAD to read your post immediately, “You see them everywhere. Window decals of Calvin urinating…”
I always enjoy your insightful thoughts and musings. – Calvin (not urinating on objects)
— Calvin Cheng · Oct 2, 06:08 PM · #