Pieces of you* - Jewel

I have this mate who unfortunately happens to be criticised for a lot of things he does. It is unfortunate because this has been happening for a long time. Unfortunate because while these criticisms may be justified on some occasions, i feel that it is not right to pick on his shortcomings all the time and refuse to give him credit for the good he does.

I guess tt's life - if a person does wat is right, people will keep quiet. If he takes one small tiny step out of line, they jump on him. It's really sad cuz i know his heart is right - even if his methods may be a little "different" or creative.

But wat makes me really sad is the kind of person he has turned out to be now. I would have expected him to be one who is encouraging and giving chances to the younger ones, focusing on the good instead of constantly picking on negatives.

I was wrong. A recent example was when i was telling the youth leaders to consider some creative methods used by another church. His immediate response was that those methods were wrong and implied that those people involved were not walking "circumspectly" as the the Bible tells us to. Nothing about the effort put in by them, the quality of the video done, the interesting manner it was presented in, the creativity used to appeal to youths today.

Me mate has become like those who used to just pick on his faults while neglecting his strengths.

Look, i am not saying that wrongs and mistakes should not be corrected (for the record, i do not think that the other church methods were wrong at all but tt's besides the point) but it should be balanced with encouragement and inspiration. Even justice must be tempered with mercy. Are we in the business of tearing down or building up?

But i dun blame me mate. My unhappiness is targeted at those who never gave him a fair chance, those who kept on reminding him how inadequate he is, those who refused to him credit when it is due.

People are looking up to us wherever we are - and if we are not careful with our shortcomings, it will not stop when we leave this terrestial ball - it can be perpetuated by the next generation. Pieces of us - you and me - will remain on this earth long after our physical bodies act as fertilisers for daffodils. Do we want these pieces to be good or bad? I've got to remind meself of that constantly.

Sori for sounding so preachy but i am very much disturbed by this at this time. :-(

*The title song of her debut album, a brilliant guitar vocal song with powerful lyrics about discrimination.