For those of you who went to public school, do you remember how cruel kids can be? (Mind you, I am talking fifty years ago, before guns and major violence became a part of what seems to be everyday life now.) I am talking just general behavior of teens and even younger if they are not held in check. Scripture instructs us to keep our children close to God. Our government took God out of our education system. When that happened it created a Pandoras Box that eventually led to the confusion and violence that is going on in schools today.
This article is not really about school violence which should be another subject in the future. This is about just general apathy toward others, making fun of, torturing with words, making others feel small.
When your kids get glasses and others start calling them 4-eyes, that’s the kind of thing we are talking about. That is the kind of thing that is apparently human nature and we should get over it because it is going to happen – again and again. Even so, to the person being called 4-eyes, it still hurts and does take some getting used to and even longer to get over such humiliating name-calling. (As someone who had a bathroom accident when the teacher would not excuse them (in 3rd grade), believe me, it takes a long time to get over it and through it.
People have been doing it forever though. When something happens to someone the stupid nicknames keep on coming for years, or in some cases, forever! Let’s go to the gospels for an example: Jesus had conquered the grave and the disciples were all in the upper room gathered together when he appeared unto them. All except one – Thomas. It is not really known where Thomas was that day, perhaps he was sick, perhaps he had to take his kid to the orthodontist to get his braces tightened, he was married, perhaps he and his wife were in the throws of a heated argument. Whatever the case, Thomas just couldn’t believe he had missed the event of seeing the risen Lord with the other apostles.
If you have hopped on the bandwagon and to this day you are still calling him “Doubting Thomas”, then you are part of the problem. You are telling me that you make no mistakes, that you attend every church service no matter what is going on in your life, that you are the perfect Christian! Is that what you are telling me?
Centuries later, Thomas is still being branded with that name because all of us are perfect and we never make any mistakes.
Thomas over-reacted, just like any one of us would have done. Thomas was an apostle, he was with Christ and knew him personally, and yet he opened his mouth (which puts all of us in danger) and stupidly said “I won’t believe until I have seen the prints in his hands and feet.” You don’t ever over-react to situations and I certainly don’t. We are all perfect little Christians and make no mistakes whatsoever. In the annuls of time, put yourself in Thomas’ shoes. How would you like to have that derogatory nickname saddled onto you for centuries. For that matter, how would you still like to be called that nickname you were saddled with in elementary school?
If you could stop for a little bit and put yourself in Thomas’s shoes, maybe you could give the guy a break after 2500 years. Maybe he is no more Doubting Thomas, he is just Thomas. He was, after all just a person – just like you!
~AE
Voice of the Introverts 