Spit On a Stranger (by Nickel Creek)

I think I've spent too much of my adult life trying to learn to be tolerant of the poor, of other religions and worldviews, of social outcasts, and of people who suffer from broken homes and relationships; there's a whole other grouping of people of whom I have completely overlooked and have recently discovered I have absolutely no patience, tolerance, or respect for: The rich, spoiled brats of this world!

I spent last week (May 13-19) helping my buddy Jason out with his ministry, Good Neighbors, Inc., in south-eastern Kentucky. This was my first chance to see his two-year-old business/ministry first-hand. On one side of the coin, Jason has grown in his faith and maturity by leaps and bounds since I first met him back in junior high. I've seen him make a lot of mistakes in his life and put himself before God and others for a long time. It's an awesome thing to see him so focused on others and care so little about "things" like he used to. However, the other side of the coin reveals that he still has a whole lot more growth and learning in his theology as well as how to run a ministry. There's great potential in him; my prayer is that he'll utilize and live up to it.

My week in Kentucky with Jason and Good Neighbors, Inc. was shared with a team of 24 students and faculty from Minnehaha Academy. I pretty much left junior highers in my past when I left my volunteer staff position in the Wooddale Junior High Ministry back in 2002. Needless to say, I didn't care too much for being a part of this group - my focus was on being there to help Jason in whatever ways he needed me, not to be a chaperon for the little kiddies.
I did a good job of avoiding the team the first half of the week. I was able to focus on Jason and the business and still allow some time to get my studying done. However, apparently 9th grade kids are drawn to people who try to avoid them. By the end of the week, I couldn't shake most of them. Admittedly, there were a couple of cool ones, but there was one in particular who wore me to the core! I don't think I will ever forget the name Christine Gremillion. I can honestly say I have never met a single person in my life who comes close to being as spoiled, selfish, obnoxious, whiney, and downright annoying as this girl. Her parents have done an absolutely horrible job of raising her. In a team of people doing various construction work - whole lot of manual labor - Christine clearly worked two or three times as hard as the hardest worker, only all her energy was spent complaining, threatening, and avoiding work. Frankly, I could go on and on and on about this girl, but in an effort to restrain myself I'll leave it at this.
My purpose for brining this up is that I have learned that I have an extreme shortness of tolerance and patience for people like this. I simply can't handle people who think that everyone and everything exists for their personal betterment. This is what drives me crazy about America and the state it's in and the direction it's heading. Where did all the discipline go? What happened to community and respect for one another? What happened to respect?! I know these things still exist, but there's no denying that these are dying characteristics of our country. Frankly, I weep for the future of our kids, our society, and our country.

Oh, and on a side note, my first draft of my first term paper in seminary (well, this time around at least) is due on Friday night. Why does school have to be so difficult and time-consuming?!?!