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i was watching a television show this afternoon and this pretty popular reality show personality came on to hype her new show. she closes the end of her spot with these words: “…and i don’t care what people think.”
wow. it sounds so…. mature. independent. confident. the way that strong, robust, hip people are encouraged to act and think.
when my boys were little, i would pray with them at night and one of my regular prayers was that god would help them say “no” to people who would want to lead them down the wrong path…and confidence to be good examples to others.
i wanted them to stand strong. i wanted them to follow god and not the crowd. i wanted them to be able to discern the difference between good and evil and right from wrong. i wanted them to have the character to be the only one, if the situation called for it.
there is something very empowering when a person has the ability to withstand the influence of others. to stand strong. to stand alone. to stand as an individual. to fly in the face of popular opinion and live being able to disregard what other people think.
hey…there’s something kind of cool…something kind of rogue…something kind of counter-culture…about marching to your drum.
but the i-don’t-care-what-people-think attitude can also be incredibly self-centered. it stands in absolute opposition to the life that we are called to live as followers of christ…lives that are totally aware of the needs and feelings and perspectives of those we rub elbows with.
what we do affects others. what we do has consequences. our choices are not made in vacuums.
just because we have the freedom to do what we want to do without caring what others think, doesn’t mean we should.
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