Sticks and stones

Posted by admin on Apr 12, 2006 in Issues & Ideas | 0 comments

High school was a time for change. Or so I thought. I went to Bible school immediately after high school in Germany and I thought that the attitudes of many young adolescents would change; unfortunately, it still felt like high school. How could a Bible school still feel like high school? Well, there was still the gossip, the taunting, the hatred, the pain, and the remorse from those who knew me and from those who didn’t but still liked to “talk.” So, I moved to Calgary for a while and then to Australia in hopes that life would be different. But, things were still the same. How were they the same? How could it be? There was still the gossip, the taunting, the hatred, the pain, the remorse, the problems; it seemed to follow me everywhere. Was it all directed towards me? Did people really mean it? I am told that the cruel words weren’t deliberately thrown at me; that I had misheard the conversation, but deep down I still thought that I had done something wrong to deserve all of these hurtful words, even if they weren’t aimed at me. So then I thought that moving to Trinity to get away from the secular world and into a Christian community would be a bit better, but unfortunately, I have come across the same thing as everywhere else that I have lived before. The gossip and the whispering may not be the same thing or as bad as it was when I lived in the “real world” and out of “the Trinity bubble,” but as I have been growing up, I have slowly come to realize that our world is far from perfect.

I live in dorms. This is my second year living in dorms. I have likes and dislikes about it. The thing I hate most is the gossip. No one is perfect, no Christian is perfect, and I am not going to preach a sermon on how to hold your tongue, that’s not my style. I am just going to warn both guys and girls that people do have great eavesdropping skills and that what you say about someone else does matter. Don’t forget that there are other people listening around you all the time when you have your late night giggle fests. Just because we go to a Christian school does not mean that the people here are all about the Trinity community ethics and building each other up. I just request that people be aware of the words they say. Words hurt. Sticks and stones may just leave a scratch or a scar, but hurtful words can last forever. Please be careful of what you say, speak graciously and truthfully of others. I said I wasn’t going to give you with a sermon, but I feel that this verse is necessary: “let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18).