A Perfect Evening Spoiled by the Self Sabotage of Victimhood [Warden]

I posted this on Twitter a week back and a lot of people responded positively to it. In hindsight, it's a mistake to waste content on a left wing platform that does everything it can to silence people like me. In response, I've quit Twitter over their censorship of conservatives and you can now find me on gab.ai under the handle @warden_AoS

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A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I ditched the kids with grandma and went to our favorite steak house. It has a patio with a bar in the back. It was a nice evening, so we sat down by the fire pit and had a few drinks before our meal.

About 15 minutes in, a middle-aged woman sits down near us and jokes that she and her son had just stumbled into a make-out session at the well concealed fire pit next to us. Her kid is six years old, same as our youngest. We have a good laugh about it, then start making small talk.

The woman is a talker. Maybe she's a little loose from the alcohol. We're enjoying ourselves, though. It's nice to be able to just sit and talk to other adults even if it's mostly about your kids.

A few minutes later her husband joins us. He's seems content to sit in silence.
I ask the woman what she does for a living after she references her work. She's a supply chain manager for a big local company. Cool. I have no idea what that involves, but I'm a curious person and like asking questions.

The conversation is easy and light. We're all enjoying ourselves, laughing, drinking and taking in the first warm day of spring. Then the woman starts talking about the company gold outing she just attended.

She doesn't even like golf, she informs us, and had to rent clubs. Then her mood turns resentful as she observes that she was the only woman on a golf course full of men.

Her husband speaks for the first time. "I guess that was your #MeToo moment," he says.

I smile. I think he's joking. Of course he's joking.

He's not joking.

The woman rolls her eye and says, without sarcasm, "One of MANY."

We've gone from light hearted banter to a woman comparing being the only guuuuuurl on the golf course to being raped by an obese, toad-faced movie mogul.
Quite a turn.

She then details how, following male dominated company golf event, her company attempted to recruit women for the following year's event. "How condescending!" she hisses as she rolls her eyes.

God shows mercy as our table is called. We excuse ourselves.

Later I look at my wife and remark, ""You can't win with these people. She doesn't even like golf, but is angry that she's the only woman playing. Then, when her company tries to remedy the "problem," such as it is, she's mad about that as well."

My wife says, "I keep saying this to you--the problem is that they are without God. And they're so busy whining and bitching about what they don't have or what they're not getting or what is or isn't fair that they can't even see that they have been given MORE than enough."

We're all guilty of this sometimes, but for the left it is their defining character.

"Worse, my wife says," none of that sounded like her own words. It's as if that's what she thinks she's supposed to say and how she's supposed to feel about things."

If this woman could have just stepped back and outside of herself for a single moment, what would she have seen?

She would have seen herself in an expensive restaurant, sitting in a chair next to a comforting fire, holding a $10 cocktail having a pleasant, relaxing evening with her husband and some friendly strangers while her healthy boy runs around merrily in the woods behind her.

She's educated, attractive for her age, has a good job that treats her to organized special events and lives in a nice area with great schools. And here she is in the midst of all this abundance spitting bile over the male/female ratio in a company bought and paid for game of golf that she admittedly doesn't even enjoy

What must God think of us--we who live such easy, comfortable lives here in America--when we do this?

It's quite literally insane to willfully spoil your own joy in what is an otherwise perfect evening over some petty grievance. Counting your blessings isn't just some quaint saying. It is how you forge a connection with God on a daily basis.

Gratitude is the cornerstone of joyfulness. It works miracles in your life. It opens your heart to God's kingdom and seals it off from spite, resentment and rage.

And look, as a sinner, I get it. I've been this woman. I struggle with resentment. I struggle with letting go, particularly when I'm convinced I've been wronged.

It all starts with slowing down your knee-jerk emotional reactions and examining yourself. Everyone wants to say, "I am a victim. I have been wronged."

No one wants to say, "I am blessed. God has given me more than I deserve."

What is so hard about this? Why won't we say it? Why won't we acknowledge what has been so graciously granted to us? Are we afraid we'll lose face? Are we afraid we'll lose moral superiority?

Or perhaps it's because we're afraid that this acknowledgement will then require something of us--something greater than we're giving at the moment.

posted by Open Blogger at 09:00 PM

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