It Happens

My precious daughter has fallen asleep, and I just successfully moved her to the crib, which means that I have a few moments alone with my thoughts before the love of my life returns from the fire station. Yup, I married a fire fighter, and I am so proud of him!

Lots of thoughts have been rolling around my head lately, and I need to divulge into some of them, though there is no guarantee of them coming out clearly this late at night. Dang, I just called 9:30pm late...yup, I'm definitely a mom, and definitely have an active daughter!

Over the past few years, I have observed a growing attitude of entitlement and pomposity (yes, it is a word, look it up) among Christians...and it's exhausting.

I know that Christians are told to be bold in their faith, and make disciples, and some people are naturally wired to be bold and outspoken - boldly talking and acting as though they are going to call down fire and brimstone. However, I think that the life of doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly...has been lost. Sadly, especially for those who may not be so extroverted or outspoken.

Too many times, there are stories of Christians starting protests or riots (Westboro Baptist Church, anyone), and not enough stories and testimonies of Christians who have the heart of Mother Theresa. She dedicated years of her life to ministering and reaching out to others of different lifestyles and circumstances. I realize that a large part of anything found on the internet is in part to media bias, one way or another, but what about the real-life encounters that we all face in one way or another... For example, I know individuals who stopped eating at Chick-fil-A (CFA) during the Dan Cathy controversy. I also know individuals who adamantly implored Christians to bring all their business to the local chain. At the same time, the very same people who practically bowed down and worshiped CFA, have also brought mass amount of attention to the comments of the CEO of Starbucks on those who support traditional marriage..."we don't want your business."

1. That is not actually what was said. The CEO was talking to shareholders, and said that if they thought a larger return could be found in a different company, than they can take sell the Starbucks shares and buy from another company.

2. Boycotting a company is not really going to hurt the company - people will always buy coffee, either a specialty drink, the bags of coffee, or the k-cups. It happens.

3. If the motivation behind a company boycott is to "raise awareness of an issue," let me raise some awareness of another issue: the employees who work for the company will be hurt LONG before the company itself.

If an individual store drops in sales, the employees hours are going to be reduced, and maybe even the staffing requirements. I have often picked up hours at the Starbucks location, and know from personal experience what it is like when hours drop...the paycheck drops. It happens. Starbucks employees are humans, too - they have bills to pay, groceries to buy, and all the same responsibilities of any other individual. I just have to wonder...how many of the boycott promoters take this into consideration when negatively promoting a business? Do I agree with everything that every company stands for? Uh...no. But do I seek out ways to hurt the company and, in the process, end up hurting the individuals who work there? No.

Am I going to have different opinions from others? Yes.

Am I going to agree with every CEO of every major company that ever existed? No.

Do I understand that the employees of those companies are depending on a paycheck to meet basic human needs, whether or not they agree with their own CEO? Absolutely!

Basically, the point of all this is... it's fine and dandy to have intellectual conversations about differing opinions, but don't put the employees in jeopardy because you don't like the employer. So they have a different opinion than you, just like many will probably have a different opinion than what I am voicing here. Guess what - It happens.