think of yourself less, think of others more

3rd October, Monday
in every person there are always many blind spots, whether you like it or not. faults in our behaviour and character that we choose to ignore or we rationalize away or simply never realize existed.

for example, a person who is naturally abrasive in his comments, if he realises it, may still choose to ignore the fact the he has such a problem. he may even rationalize it away by explaining that he is a truthful person and he can't help but tell the truth regardless of people's feeings. or perhaps he may not realise that his remarks are cutting and abrasive because it has been so much a part of him all his life.

then there is the example a person who is naturally lazy, if he realises it, my still choose to ignore it and continue to be lazy. he may justify his behaviour by saying that he was born that way, can't help it or he could give the example of people rushing around all the time in fast paced Singapore, not having time to slow down and smell the flowers and say that he doesn't want to fall into that trap therefore continues to be lazy. or perhaps nobody in his life cared to tell him that he has a problem with lazyness. all his life he has managed to clear his PSLE, O'level's, A'level's, Poly exams, Uni exams by slacking thru the term, studying last minute and getting away with excellent results because he is just smart.

what about a dishonest person, someone who has a knack for telling half the truth and getting away with it. he may realize that he isn't telling the whole truth and yet ignore it because telling half the truth always lets him get away with his mistakes. he may even rationalize his behaviour by saying "i'm not lying wad, still telling the truth but just a small part, not my fault that the other person go and make his own assumption. i din lie, i just didn't tell everything, even though i only mentioned one part of the truth, but still the truth right?" worse still, a person who lies through his teeth and does not know it. i seriously doubt such a person exists. -_-"

and you know what feeds this phenomenon? its when the person is self centred. anyone can justify basically anything if the reasons for his behaviour are selfish. but is this really the way God wants us to behave? selfishly? my school principal once quoted a famous man saying "don't ask what the school can do for you, ask what you can do for the school". being selfish means always asking what benefit you can get from something, someone, somewhere. to be unselfish means to ask what you can bring to a group, what you can do for someone, how you can help the situation, make things better. so clear is the distinction and yet most times we stop short at the selfish bit all our lives and we never move on to the unselfish bit.

which makes you wonder, if jesus thought selfishly the night before he died on the cross, where would we be? he could have snapped his fingers and disappeared into heaven never to be seen again, and he wouldn't have any problem justifing his actions because afterall he is the son of god, he could have saved himself and let us all perish, he didn't owe us a living and yet he did what he did out of unselfish love. are we then to model what christ has done or should we instead carry on living our own selfish, self centred lives. well, thats up to you to decide. ;)

disclaimer: i'm not trying to say that christians ought to be perfect please don't get me wrong. the writer of this blog is one perfect example of such a flawed christian. all i'm trying to say is this, think of yourself less, think of others more. its not easy, but everyone has to start somewhere eh?