You're Doing It Wrong!

"One Bad Egg"
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 by Tom Fassbender.
Source: Flickr

            Across social media, there seem to be a variety of click-bait opportunities inviting people to learn how they are doing things wrong.  From using a can opener to dispensing a TicTac, we seem to be doing a LOT of things wrong.

            At least, according to the writers of these articles.

            I wonder if that's really helpful... I don't know many people who enjoy being told how wrong they are, all the time.

            Also, I don't know if that's accurate. My examples of can openers and candies... some can openers can be used on the top of a can, and some on the side - if the objective is to open the can, does it matter which way is used? Or to acquire one candy out of a plastic box, shaking it into a waiting hand is no less effective than placing it on the adjacent lid.

            I wonder if we realise the scope of negativity we are engaging in, and even endorsing, when we use language like this. I wonder if we are aware of how cruelly judgmental it is to arbitrarily declare someone WRONG - even (especially?) for such a small thing.

            I overheard this kind of language once in reference to cracking an egg. One person was cracking it on the side of the bowl, the other demanded it should be cracked on the counter - in the resulting mêlée, the egg ended up on the floor. It was a mess - and not just of food.

            Perhaps it is time for an intentional re-examination of how we describe things. Perhaps we might better express ourselves as Christians if we do not say someone is wrong for doing what they do, but that we have learned or practices in a different way. There's a different way to open a can, or get a tiny mint, or crack an egg.

            My reading of the scriptures very seldom has Jesus telling people that they are wrong - he avoids that harsh judgment. Instead he invites them to a different way - a different path, a different learning, a different life. And people followed him; not chastised or criticised, but welcomed and invited.

            Perhaps we might engage folks in our communities in a similar way: choosing inclusion over judgement.  As Mother Teresa said, ""There there is no room for love when there is judgement." Perhaps we can find the joy in recognising that differences are part of the beauty of creation, and part of the joy of God's world. Not everyone will do things our way, but that's okay. It's not always wrong: just different.