Is the Prize for the Truth Worth the Cost of the Trophy?

I would say yes. Some of the time anyway. There should never be an apology for the truth. However, as I am finding out quite painfully, the truth on everything around you does not need to be blurted out.

The position of taking a stand is a noble one. But when there is little gain for the greater good of yourself or those around you I don't think it is necessarily a bad thing to just shut up. Wish I could have told myself this last week before I laid some heavy truth on someone who couldn't handle the weight. The fanfare was over so quick that there was no echo in my mind and in fact it ended up hurting me in the process.

If someone, or some people, has/have all of the following mental traits: weak, pathetic, soft, deceptive, weasely, evil, scummy, akin to racoon bile, akin to buzzard saliva, passive aggressive, self centered, self promoting, sociopathic, schmoozy, gossips, lies, cheats, steals credit for your work, steals credit for your ideas, would kill their own mother if it meant a promotion, etc. etc. etc................... Guess what I found out about them? Letting them know that they are these things and more will not change them. They will be all of these things for as long as they lack a conscience. They will be all of these things as long as they are the only person in the universe. You cannot change them.

There is only one thing you can do. Be better in spirit and mind than they are. Excercise grace with them even if it means putting a shock collar on and zapping yourself when you get the urge to enlighten them on how much better they could be if they would just start walking upright. Grace in the face of some of the slime around you is the toughest thing to practice. It is also tough sometimes to remember that Jesus died and rose for them too. It is VERY tough when you look back at some of your own past actions and catch just a hint of one or two of those traits being put in play at the time. But "that was different"....right?

If this doesn't make sense I'm sorry. I may delete this entry later I just wanted to write it out to get it out of my skull for a while.