Critics, Critiques, and Creators
SPOILER ALERT and CONFESSION, I am about to do the very thing I am going to complain about.
You know what really bugs me…. Oh, sorry Andy Rooney, I stole your line.
I read a number of blogs and I have found one thing that many (not all) have in common. Blogs tend to be negative. They/I can have a habit of using the blog as a place to vent about pet peeves. On one hand, it is in the examination of these areas that we often find dysfunction in ourselves as well and find a growth edge to become more of who God has called us to be. On the other, we do use this platform to just plain complain about the things that bug us. And I have to admit, many of the things that bug other bloggers (I use the term lightly for myself since I don’t post enough to be a real blogger), many of the things that bug other bloggers bug me too. But I wonder how much we gain by griping about every little thing in life, and where does it take us in life. In other words, do we gain by giving voice to these things, or does breathing these words and thoughts take us into a negative spiral of a personal nature where we stop creating.
In the Movie “High Fidelity” with John Cusak, his character is a constant critic, making various lists with his employees about the best music in eclectic categories that are designed to show how much smarter they are than the average music lover. One day he hears a tape of a local group of teenagers and offers to produce their demo. When he gets scared of being the DJ at the groups debut party, his girlfriend reminds him that he has always been a critic; now he is a creator and its time to step up.
It’s easy to be a critic because a critic never has to create. But we always have to remember, without the creators, there is nothing to critique. I think I want to be a creator more than I want to be a critic. My greatest desire is to know God, the first and best creator, and to always be open to what He is doing so I can cooperate with the Holy Spirit in being part of bringing forth the Kingdom of God. I know that I will still get bugged by stuff, but maybe I can remember Viktor Frankl who in the midst of suffering in a Nazi concentration camp, discovered that he couldn’t control how he was treated, but was able to chose how he responded to that treatment. We always have the choice of how we respond. Do we respond in ways that are destructive or constructive?
