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Remember that? Yeah, so what did that guy do that made the world turn on him? He did not actually falsify a news report. My favorite example of this is in the public shaming and fall from grace of Newscaster Brian Williams. This is why we can love having raging alcoholics around because it’s such a convenient way to not have to look at our own drinking. I mean, the best thing we can hope for if we feel guilty or icky about something hidden in us or hidden in our past is to find someone more guilty to carry all of it for us. But comparison has a more hidden insidious function as well: it also allows us to not have to look at certain things in ourselves. She won the weight game and they felt like losers and they couldn’t handle how that changed their standing in some made up ranking system.Ĭomparison introduces despair when none is called for and pride when none is called for. See, she took away from them the feeling of pride and superiority they had from being thinner than her.
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But she shared with me how painful it was to lose several girlfriends that she thought really loved her.
![everyone has a story sermon everyone has a story sermon](https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/everyone-has-story-message-written-260nw-578589907.jpg)
She started eating well and doing yoga and she’s so much healthier than she’s ever been – not to mention she looks fabulous. I have a dear friend who lost 40 pounds last year. You think this isn’t true? Just ask any woman who has lost a significant amount of weight. Or as the Gospel reading for today puts it, comparison allows us to trust in ourselves that we are righteous and regard others with contempt.Ĭomparison introduces pride when none is called for because we humans need to maintain a ranking system for ourselves and others so we can be sure of our value. And comparison introduces despair when none is called for.īecause if I’m totally honest, comparison can also introduce pride when none is called for. We compare our income to that of others who make more money, we compare our looks to those we think more beautiful, we compare our actual relationship to the Facebook highlight reel of someone else’s relationship and then we make the leap to assuming all these people are happier than us. That simple statement contains so much wisdom. She has an amazing quote tattooed on her arm. Which is why I’ve been thinking about one of Amy Clifford’s tattoos all week.
![everyone has a story sermon everyone has a story sermon](https://image.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/text-sign-showing-everyone-has-260nw-1350807761.jpg)
My first experience in how unhappy I could make myself by comparing myself to someone else. It was my first event in what my friend Debbie calls the Great Human Competition Extravaganza. It was a trying time for my mom and by a trying time I mean 18 years.Īnyhow, this is my first memory of comparison…of basing how I saw myself and my life on my perception of someone else and their life. The kind that obviously didn’t love me enough to make me happy. Peggy would patiently try and explain that I just had a different kind of hair but I was convinced that Peggy just wouldn’t fix my hair like the neighbor girl’s because I just had a different kind of mother. Apparently I commented on this endlessly. HER mother gave her little braids and twists and colorful little bows and what did MY mother give me? A ponytail. My mom likes to tell the story about when I was in Kindergarten and our next door neighbors were a young African American family with a daughter my own age and how their little girl always had what I considered, and consistently commented on bring the cutest hair. Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt