Monday, August 25, 2014

Creative Self-destruction

That's my term for what Oswald Sobrino calls the "silver lining" of people being their own worst enemy. He gives some examples of the evidence:

  1. The bartender who can't help aggressively intruding on your private conversation;
  2. The rude manners that get someone no slack or sympathy from a restaurant server;
  3. The insecure who bore you with their clay pillars of self-esteem to the point that you don't want to hear any more about their school, their exercise regimen, their ancestry, or their possessions and investments;
  4. The sexually promiscuous who expect to be accorded the honor of a virtuous Roman matron or a biblical Joseph;
  5. The patronizing Christian who consistently mimics a Pharisee;
  6. The pedant who expects people to want to interact with him;
  7. The panhandler who thinks bullying will get him a donation.
Boom.

It seems to me as though the good Mr. Sobrino may have run into all these profiles recently within a short period of time and had some time to reflect on them.

I guess I would just add as a corollary to number three that some people talk about all their problems which are all the fault of others. That's probably a sign of insecurity also.

2 comments:

  1. # 3 struck me, too. There is a FB meme: "Shut Up About Your Perfect Kid." I know someone to whom I would like to say this very thing (but I'm too woossy).

    And you're right -- the constant complainers and blame deflectors are just as bad.

    OK, now I'm being a baaad, judgmental pharisee. :o

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  2. We're all flawed; that's a fact. But what keeps us from self-destructing? Probably routine examination of conscience, provided it is done well.

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