Wednesday; April 17

During his time at Florida State University Warwick Dunn had a lot of people cheering for him, but like anyone involved in athletic competition, not everyone was his fan.  In fact, some of the people weren’t content to merely cheer for their team – they heckled him.  Some even went to the extreme of even making light of the fact that his mother had been killed in a robbery attempt a few years earlier.  Can you imagine, being so into your team that you would dig up something so painful as the loss of an opponent’s mother?  When Dunn reflected on heckling he recalled how it made him question the decency of people!  No, not everyone did it, but the pain caused by those that did tarnished his opinion of his fellow man.
          Have you noticed how quick we are to heckle people today?  We take issue with and make fun of their sports teams – but, it has gotten even more prevalent to include other’s political beliefs, race, religion and so many other things.  It seems that very few things are immune from critical comments.  In a “competitive” environment that crosses so many boundaries people say things that hurt and that tends to make us question the decency of people.  In our effort to get under someone’s skin we make derogative statements that get into people’s hearts!
          I remember my Mom saying, “If you can’t say something nice about someone, don’t say anything at all.”.  Maybe something even more eloquent comes from the Bible where Christians are reminded, “ So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.” (Romans 14:19).  Do we really need to say something negative about someone?  Let’s do us and them and all of humanity a favor and stop heckling one another.  Maybe when we do we can reestablish decency and restore civility.
          Think About It!

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