Little Ronnie
One of the dear, older women of our congregation told of a time when she was tasked with baby-sitting for her grandkids.
"I thought my son was just too hard on little Ronnie. Little Ronnie was always in touble...then one day I had to watch little Ronnie for them. I found out why little Ronnie was always in trouble."
Perspective. Funny how perspectives can change. A few years ago there was a news special about an activist that had a very hard opinion of the police.
The man had been very critical of police and how brutal they were especially to young black men. The local police, in an effort to educate people on the job the law enforcement had, invited the activist to join the police force for a brief period of time.
The man went through a short training period, then rode with the local police on patrol, and was tasked with handling some difficult situations.
In one case he faced a much larger black youth who didn't have a weapon. The younger man was fighting with another man when the police approached.
The new trainee gave the young black man instructions, but once he intervened the young man began to come in his direction. The young man was commanded to stop and put his hands in the air.
We know how that went, and I'm not sure what the trainee finally did to finish the situation, but it underscored how difficult things can be.
In one of the other situations the trainee had there was another man. This suspect was puttering around someone else's car in a parking lot. The man's manner was suspicious. He was at either the passenger side with the door open or in some way his hands were concealed.
It was a situation where he very well could have had a hidden weapon, and when he began coming toward the trainee, the trainee had to decide what kind of action was necessary.
It was a split second decision whether to pull his weapon. He came away with a totally different perspective.
Quite a few years ago there was a discussion at church where one of the women said to me, 'Men have been running this country for years, and look where we are now. I think we ought to let women run it for awhile.'
I thought about this idea for a few seconds and I answered her, 'You know, one thing I've noticed over the years is that there isn't a lot of difference between a corrupt woman and a corrupt man.'
I know, we hear mostly about a war on women, but that was only a diversion. Instead it should have been designated as a 'war on men'.
Have women had problems in the past? Yes, some of it due to being women, but not all of it has been for that reason. Men have had problems as well, but...
Feminists refuse to acknowledge that there are good men. They push the idea that all men are bad. People are people. Some are good, some not so good, but most are just treading water trying to get along.
The saying, 'you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar' may not be exactly in true life, but the teaching is true in practice with people.
We can be more beneficial, more productive with kindness and patience than we are with sharpness and shouting.
