Friday, November 21, 2008

Religion Friday

We were sitting at the local pizza place last night, eating some delicious pizza and kicking serious butt at the trivia contest, when people were suddenly distracted by something going on on one of the televisions. At first I thought Georgia Tech had made an amazing play or something, but when I turned my head to watch, I found something quite a bit more disturbing (seriously, the video is pretty disturbing, but that link has a write up so you don't have to watch the video).

Now, I'll come out right now and say that I've never really been a big Palin fan, but after watching this and discussing with others, there are definitely some people who are trying to take her down further (even though her Vice Presidential campaign is already over). As such, the problem with the video and the interview as a whole is not that Sarah is at fault, it's that the producers and directors of the show just wanted her to look bad. Why is it necessary to kick someone while they are down?

It happens all the time around us. We find out someone's insecurities and failures and use that to take advantage of them or their situations. A lot of the time it's not even conscious. It becomes the natural thing to want to hold power over someone else, and here is where we find ourselves with the calling to be different.

It may seem a stretch, but when Jesus said to the disciples that they should be last instead of first and strive to be servants, part of it means giving up trying to exert (for lack of a better term) power over others. That means to help people up when they've been knocked down. The election is over, there is no more need for the "liberal media" to attempt to hurt the reputations of Palin, or any other politician.

For us, we need to learn how to not only be content to serve, but to strive to be a servant all the time and that means giving up power. It's a hard thing to relinquish control of situations and people, but it is necessary to become someone's servant and do what you can to help them move forward rather than to push your own ideas ahead.

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