If a man claims Christian faith, he may go out into the world to preach, inviting danger and risking life and limb. But if he no longer cares whether he lives or dies, his sacrifice holds no meaning. If he This does not make him a brave and daring soul.
If he has already given up on his dreams and his hope for a future, and no longer wishes to breathe, what does he really risk?
We misunderstand this man entirely if we give him sainthood for his self-sacrifice. What nobility is there in risking what you don’t value?
You have a concealed gun license. You do not particularly care about children. You see an armed gunman enter a school. You take action, not to save the children, but for the thrill of the hunt of the gunman. You shoot and kill him. You have saved dozens of lives. But you only wanted the thrill of the kill.
You are not a hero. But you are. But you’re not.
That’s an extreme example of a judgment we make every single day.
A person runs a red light. We judge them as erratic and irresponsible. But they have someone in danger at home and they’re rushing to their aid.
A cashier calls you “honey” and you feel uncomfortable. To you she’s flirting with a stranger. To her, you’re just like every other man who walked through the store that year. She just calls everyone “honey” to make everyone feel welcome.
A neighbor lets his dog run around the neighborhood off its leash. You’re ready to call animal control because he’s breaking the law. But to you, the dog represents an unpredictable threat. To him, it’s family and wouldn’t hurt a fly.
A kid shows up each week without his homework finished. To you, he’s lazy, undisciplined and he doesn’t care about his education. But actually he has massive attention deficit problems and no one is helping him at home. He tries every day and gives up when he realizes two hours have gone by and he’s been distracted by a dozen different thoughts or ideas.
We label people based on what we would be feeling or believing or thinking if we were to make the same choices. But not all things are equal. We can choose the same action for many different reasons.
Somewhere along the way, we forgot that we don’t know what’s driving anyone else around us. But it’s faster and requires less brain bandwidth to assign them the same motive we’d have. So we opt for the simplest, fastest answer.
