Lookin' down

I catch myself looking down more than I'd like.  Oh, I'm not talking about looking down at the pavement when I'm walking....that's ok. Yep, I'm one of those guys that gets a charge out of finding a quarter, a nickel, or even a penny laying there on the sidewalk, street, or parking lot.  I don't mind picking up someone else's lost change.

The looking down that I don't like about me is when I catch myself looking down at other people.  You do realize, don't you, that I'm not talking about short people here?  I'm talking about looking down at some others from the hand constructed pedestal I have built for myself.  You know the one I'm talking about....it's the one built from figments of my hyper-active imagination whereby I can somehow see myself as better than some others because I have a capacity to "thin slice" others based on all kinds of criteria:

• their color
• their handicaps
• their manner of dress
• their "stupidity"
• their sexual orientation
• their religion or beliefs
• their politics
• yada, yada, yada, yada

Does any of the above resonate with you?  Does the seat of your pedestal get as uncomfortable as mine does?  I catch myself looking down and I talk to myself about it.  I also pray about it, confessing it and asking not only for forgiveness, but for the strength to not do it.  And I have found that it is hard not to do it.  Just like so many other things during this tough walk down that long road of life.  I think we just have to look at the small victories when they come, and maybe not focus so hard on the long term.  When I do catch myself starting to get that "smug" attitude that comes from the pedestal, that is a victory...because I caught myself and backed away.  Have you experienced small victories like that?

Sometimes I just need to remember where I came from.  God surely helped me up when I was down there getting looked at.  And along the way, so many folks didn't thin slice me when I was there like a dirty old penny on the pavement.  They helped me up.  If I could only remember, who am I to look down at anyone.....anyone?