Love is Kind

"Love is kind". [1 Corinthians 13:4]

A little boy goes to kindergarten on the first day. Already, about a month prior to that day, a boy he did not even know came up to him at the park and stabbed him in the back with the tip of a metal airplane. The jab broke his skin and left a mark.

But on the first day of school, the boy is first in line, banging on the door to get in. Before too many weeks pass, he comes home with a nasty bruise on his back. Someone in his class had shoved him into the sharp edge of a wall in the kindergarten corridor. Now the boy is not sure how much he likes school.

In first grade, another boy in his class tells him that he is going to kill him after school.  The boy is terrified and begins refusing to go to school. His teacher and the principal establish a procedure to dismiss him before anyone in his class, so he can be escorted safely off campus. Still, the other student whispers death threats in the hallway and at recess.

In third grade, the boy comes home with a big purple bruise on his arm. The boy finally gets the courage to tell his parents that at recess, one classmate dared another to hurt him.

In fourth grade, the boy is kicked between the legs. This hurt a lot, so the boy tells a teacher. The next day, the student kicks him between the legs again. The boy tells his mother angrily, 'You told me to tell the teacher! Now look what happened! It's all your fault!'

In fifth grade, a student tells the boy that he is retarded. The boy begins refusing to do his homework, claiming that he is not smart enough. In reality, he is an "A" student.

That same year, a student tells the boy,  "Get out of my life!" The boy comes home angry and argumentative. When his mother asks what is wrong, he says, "Mommy, am I a mistake?!" Then he bursts into tears.

A few months later, two boys gang up on him in the line to recess and chant to the boy that he is a failure.

The boy develops anxiety. He has trouble sleeping. He thinks he is stupid, or worse yet, a "mistake". He refuses to go to school, to religious education, to sports activities. He is alternately angry or remote. He declares, "That's IT, I am shutting down now. I am done!" He gets in fights at school and he is the one punished "for reacting". He steals a plastic knife from the cafeteria, which he keeps in his jacket pocket for self defense because school is no longer his Safe Place.

This is not a hypothetical. It is a true story. It does not take place in an urban school. All of this happens in an upper middle class community.

We live in a culture that worships People Behaving Badly (aka celebrities). These are (in)famous people known for trashing hotel rooms, engaging in statutory rape, getting their way by throwing telephones at people, showing their ugly side by uttering profanities and racist diatribes. We watch videos of teens bullying others and feel a vicarious rush of adrenaline. We consume movies about Mean Girls. Our favorite films are about "Males on Vendettas."

Okay, so you can accuse me of being child-like. Maybe even childish. But where is the Love in our culture?

Love is supposed to be kind. Where is the kindness?

If my feelings are hurt by all this and my own heart is breaking, How does God feel?

(c) The Spiritual Devotional 2011. All Rights Reserved.