Who, and/or what, are the enemies? They are many, and of variant meanings to our lives. We ought to begin the debate with an old saying: I have met the enemy, and it’s us. When my orientation is freed from victimization (life circumstances are stacked against me), I sense a freedom to find my way to life. Under God, if God is in truth a factor in my life, there is no victimization. Negatives, at every point, are part of the natural/spiritual story, so I may factor that perception constructively into life processes. I ought to take the circumstances and make something of them if the transition of human mortality is to be made to serve a better situation relating to immortality. This shifts our interpretation of the meaning of enemies, and provides a context for a successful mortal life – as God counts success. Once free of distortions about personal achievement in a paradoxical and contradictory world, I can be on my way to accomplishment, joy, fulfillment, and lasting, affirmative meaning for my life. Meaning for self is important, even vital.
Some adjustments have to be made in lives in identifying enemies. At first they are our parents who dare to disapprove of some of the things the child does or says – or does not do or say. This is met early in telling lies in the context of events. Others appear to be in cahoots with parents, like teachers, so we begin to cheat, or become truant, or sullen and squint-eyed. Even peers throw up barriers, and must be countered by anything from shunning to physical encounter that may bloody noses. Currently the news is dotted with stories of suicides among high school students initiated from bullying by classmates. Ultimately tension can become so negative that the most offended may shoot up the classroom or the office – even the home and family. These irritations began as rather mild situations to be managed by a maturing person in the forming of life conduct and thought. At this writing, the nation is in discussion about what may be done about bullying that has led to tragic ends. Enemies come early into our lives. If we succeed in revenge, we feel armed for the future, but in the wrong idealism. I was bullied as a child, and suffered for it. My mother tried to appeal to several mothers of sons older than I, but to no avail. They did not know what to do, and context was defended as a part of life – to be endured. Then one day I decided: I wouldn’t take it anymore. When challenged I fought my tormentor, and won. I was ecstatic. I could defend myself, so from that point to meet ferocity with ferocity. That leads to jungle living, perhaps to privilege or crime. On one occasion my buddies and I got into a brawl on a beach with a group of toughs that disrupted the crowd there from a pleasant day. I could use force (especially when backed by friends) with persons weaker than I was, so to accomplish my objectives – leading to arrogance at best, to crime and death at worst.
It was somewhat later, but not too late, that I made commitment to Jesus Christ, and discovered one finds dignity in self-control, in humility even concern for living enemies. One seeks avenues of friendship rather than confrontation. We were made in our original copy, for peace. We need discipline, first generated from mature parents, so to become the persons who find peace, wonder, love, and service as a way of life. Yelling, ill-will, jockeying about for advantage and the like do not advance the best in the persons with whom we have to do. Working with students and families, both as an educator and sometimes minister, I have learned of those who have been guided by parents, and mentors, into a pattern that makes them life sensitive. They gain that sense of dignity, not only in themselves, but in the persons they encounter in the events of life. Many could become threatening.
Recently a gifted specialist in his field thanked me for responding in friendly and appreciative manner for his attention to me. I was stunned in the conversation to discover that this sincere man had been rudely addressed in far less than dignified language that morning. He was trying for recovery. What did he do wrong? He did nothing wrong. He proved he was doing what he ought to do when he was kicked in the face for doing a good deed. He would have lost some approval from God had he not accepted some human disapproval. It is a part of being Christ-like to accept with no loss of dignity the disapproval of others who conjure their worth in diminishing others. Christians must never forget that the most magnificent person to have ever lived was reviled and crucified for doing good, giving hope to those in true faith. We seek that Christ-likeness. We tend to choose likeness from something we want or admire that is made to be part of us. We too are to be models. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020