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| pretty much the clearest picture i could find, though any nerd would know that this isn't technically a rush. but you get the idea. |
i remember a day quite well while playing starcraft. i was playing with my friends Sean and Louie, and my brother Brent was making fun of everything they were saying on the online in-game chat. they weren't speaking in complete sentences, (as its hard to crush your enemy forces and talk at the same time) and Brent read their every word as if he were a caveman. it was sort of annoying, but whatever.
so, after i was done it was Brent's turn to play, and so i began to make fun of everything that his allies said while playing. Brent entered a 3 on 3 match with random internet players. one of the player's user names was called fAsT_tuRtLE. the match opened with the following dialogue:
fAsT_tuRtLE: experts always rush.
fAsT_tuRtLE: i am an expert.
fAsT_tuRtLE: therefore, i will rush.
needless to say, this guy was a total n00b, and everybody knew it the second he typed his first message. (by the way, autocorrect is not underlining the word "n00b"). his attempt of a rush went horribly awry and unaided by his teammates. within minutes, his base was being destroyed by the opposing team while everyone in the match laughed at him whether friend or foe.
fAsT_tuRtLE: my base!
fAsT_tuRtLE: my base!
threeleggedyoyo: i thought you were an expert.
fAsT_tuRtLE was elminated.
fAsT_tuRtLE has left the game.
of course, Brent ended up losing the game since his team was one man down.
this silly experience came to mind today while i was sitting at church, thinking about how i treat others. because i am naturally sarcastic and cynical, i have a very easy time finding things in other people to make fun of. so much that i think i've developed a pretty negative outlook on things.
come to think of it, whenever i'm with friends and were talking about other people, its almost always bad. we make fun, we point out what's wrong, we build people up as these awful, horrible losers. all because its easier for us to see their flaws than our own. it has made me see how very, very, incredibly small i am.
sadly, i think we're all that way. its way easier for us to talk crap about other people or even hate them than to be nice. and it really doesn't do any good. everything that person does becomes bad. whether or not its actually good or bad.
like, holy crap, dude. did you see how she ate that donut?
yeah, man. totally stupid. it's so dumb how she does that.
holy crap, did you get a donut from her?
yeah, bro. it's totally nice how she got them for all of us.
in both cases she did the exact same thing..
i for one am tired of it. but it's also the hardest habit on earth to break. but it is a bad, bad habit if there ever was one. cause what happens when you make fun? Brent and his allies poked fun at the n00b on their team. they could have tried to help save him from enemy forces or help him with his rush. but they laughed. and they lost. and that's what happens to us, too. we laugh at others. we make so much fun and gossip so hard until we actually believe it. we actually believe that people are the way we say they are.
and then it gets way harder to like yourself. it's hard to see good in yourself when you can't see good in other people. everything to you is just dumb.
there's a place for joking. there's a place for making fun of life, for laughing, for being sarcastic, for having fun. but there are people in my life who i seriously can't remember the last time i said something nice about. too many people. there are others who i can't remember when they said something nice about another particular person. too many people.
i love the cartoon Adventure Time, cause i think it's hilarious. but sometimes it can be really profound. the show on occasion has random songs, (which are actually really good) in one of which the hero, Finn the human, asks his friends, "what am i to you? am i a joke, your knight, or your brother?"
it makes me think about how i treat people. is this person a joke? something to laugh at or make fun of? i mean they're a joke, after all. a joke isn't really even a person anyways.
or is this person a knight? someone who helps me or does nice things for me, and that's why i like him/her. that's why i keep them around.
or is he my brother? someone who i can count on. someone who i'd do anything for, cause he's my bro. someone who i can laugh with, who i would help with anything, who i'd treat exactly the way i'm supposed to treat a brother or sister.
i think if God were to talk to you about one of your friends, he wouldn't say "Oh. Him. What a loser. He's a total joke. I don't know what we're going to do with him."
i doubt He'd tell you, "Oh him? Yeah, he's alright. He's kind of like my knight, cause he does what I say. That's why I like him."
He would more likely say something like, "Jim? Yes, he's my son. I love him very much. Let me tell you why."
change is hard. being nice is hard. loving other people is hard. but it's possible, and it's worth the effort. i really hope that we can change the amount of people who are just jokes, and increase the number we see as brothers and sisters.
i think we'd all be pretty happy if we did.
