Day 52 of 365: I Suck?

You Suck! Those were the words I received in an anonymous text this afternoon while talking to my dad on the phone. I had just come home from church and really enjoyed the morning seeing many come back to church after being away for awhile. No matter how many times a critique or mean comment comes my way, it always takes me by surprise. It’s never easy to deal with. 

It is easy for me to let my mind wander and think about who might have sent it but that proves to be frivolous. The reason being that this coward or cowards are using an anonymous texting service. This is very indicative of the society we live in today which has been fostered since the internet first got going. 

Our world is in a place where everything can be debated, rated and heavily critiqued. We make it so easy to do so. I remember my times of being a youth pastor the kids talked about a website called “hot or not”. You could literally rifle through pictures of the opposite sex and give them a thumbs up or thumbs down. Online reviews via Yelp, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, etc. took off as well. We almost have made it a hobby to critique things. If you had a good experience then you rate it well. Perhaps that dining experience was not so much; a barrage of online reviews which spreads like wild fire will then begin.  

Negative comments and reviews somehow standout. You can get 20 nice compliments but the one that crawls into your headspace is that negative one. Don’t believe me? How many times have you looked at reviews for a product you wanted to buy off Amazon? You can read all of those positive reviews but the minute you read a negative one, you decide not to purchase the item. It happens a lot. 

This world would be a better place if we heeded the advice from many of our parents/grandparents. You know the saying “if you don’t have anything nice to say; then don’t say anything at all.” We have to learn to play nice and for those on the receiving end of these gripes...we must develop thick skin and press on.