Simmy had spent too much of her day responding to angry sisters... this, of course, created a vicious circle of anger because that made Simmy angry... and so on and so on and so on...
Now, there was this quote that some evangelist had once said on television but because this was second- hand information it would not be right for me to credit that person but I will write the quote because Dr. L, a pastoral professor had spent some time teaching on this subject after a big church fight and split.
Oy!
So, here goes, "There is no grace for the person who picks up another persons' offense."
So, what does this mean in preschool language?
'If Betty punches Veronica, Jughead, who listened to Betty later on and decided to take her side in the matter, actually has no right to spend time hating, berating, or creating more problems in the situation. He can listen but he has no business making it his business until Betty and Veronica try to make up.
Matthew has a good example of the order of things.
'Conversely, if Veronica had been constantly bickered at by Betty until this day when she'd had enough and socked Veronica in the nose for her unending impudence, Archie, who listened to Veronica and understood her plight should not be hating, berating, or creating more problems in the situation either.'
So, on this football weekend, a penalty or sanction may have to be called for an offender who 'meddles' in the messy relationship of Betty and Veronica.
This violation of the rules is called a foul. There must be a time out for the offender.
Now, Dr. L used to run 'kids club' with very loose football rules. If you got a yellow card, it was a warning and because it was kids club, there was a two yellow card warning system before...
the dreaded red card was given for the offensive action. (pun intended)
If the dreaded red card was given to the offender... he or she would have to go see the referee, Dr. L or a.k.a. the pastor.
Oy!
Football, being a high contact sport requiring a balance between offense and defense requires many rules to exist that regulate equality, safety, contact and actions of players on each team. (We'll leave out contact hoping the differences of opinion don't end in contact.) It is very difficult to always avoid violating these rules without giving up too much of an advantage.
Ergo... an exhaustive system, (exhaustive for most wives of husbands who love football anyway), of rules regarding fouls and penalties has been developed to 'let the punishment fit the crime.'
The goal of this is to have a balance to maintain a good flow in the game and to follow the rules.
To quote Dr. L., "Rules make it fair and fun for everyone!"
So, Betty and Veronica are going to have to follow the same rules in order to make it fun and fair for everyone.
So are Jughead and Archie, by the way!
So is everyone... that is in the game.
So, why is there 'no grace for the person who picks up another persons' offense?'
Well, after going through a huge church split... I think the answer lies in there... rules are for everyone... when someone feels they are exempt from following rules... well, that is a problem. If there is no 'face to face' communication but a whole lot of 'behind the scenes gathering of forces,' there is no reasonable way to resolve something.
'Creep' becomes the slippery slope in the problem. Creep in functionality, feature, mission, and scope is a problem for any project manager like (Dr. L), where the initial objectives of the project are jeopardized
( people getting along and moving towards wholeness), by a gradual increase in overall objectives
( gathering bullies to be on your side), as the project progresses.
Proverbs 6: 6-19 is a good warning for everyone.
Let's accept the fact that rules are to make things fun and fair for everyone... and everyone wants things fun and fair.
Yes?
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