The Blessing Of An Unsimple Mind

(Reproduced from an earlier blog entry written on April 10, 2006)

When I was much younger, I would sometimes wish that I were somebody else. I wished to be like those people who didn't seem to notice, think, or bother much about anything other than their own simplistic view and way of living. I wished I could just get on with life without too much awareness or perception of the intricacies of the human condition. I wish I could be blissfully oblivious to all the hurtful things that happened around me and TO me. In short, I wish I could fail to notice or recognize human flaws so that I would be a simpler, happier person.

The thing is, most people seem to appreciate me exactly because I'm NOT simple. They like the fact that I can often see through the delicacies of matters or the complexities of human follies. They like the way I bring them a sense of order or direction when they feel caught up in a morass of confused thoughts or emotions. Or simply, they like the feeling of relief in unloading their miseries or frustrations on me.

I will honestly say that it pains me to see people wallow in emotional suffering just because they fail to grasp (or rather, acknowledge) what the real issue with them is. It pains me even more when the way they choose to deal with the issue does not seem to be making them any happier, but they would still stick with that way, because for reason not quite comprehensible to others, they just feel so self-assured about it that any other alternative simply appears irrelevant.

It is at a time like this that my "childish" wish of being somebody else would pop up in my mind again. If only I had a simplistic mind that could see no further than the plainly and painfully obvious! If only I wouldn't know that people oftentimes bring on their own sorrow and agony! But then we are told as Christ's followers to "carry each other's burdens" in order to "fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal 6:2). As such, having the perceptiveness and sensitivity to bear another person's burden -- even if that burden is in a way self-afflicted -- is in fact a special gift from God to help me fulfil the command of Christ with much greater ease and sophistication. What is important then is not whether I have succeeded in helping someone the way I want him to be helped, but that I HAVE TRIED helping him at all. It is our faithfulness in doing the necessary, however insignificant its impact might be, that would find favor in the eyes of our Lord.