Crosses

"Other men's crosses are not mine."

Hmmmm... There's an argument going on inside my war zone of a mind for a while. (But now that I think about it, I'm thinking that it hasn't been going on in my head for just a "while"...it's been there for much longer than that. Since I was at my younger years probably. It's just now that I chose to really face the dragon head on. Yet, there are still so many dragons I must face--well, I guess everyone has his own deposit of dragons to be faced.) See, one side agrees with the quote up there. It's kind of like what my CLE teacher, Ms. Ng, said one time. That you do your part, and if the other party won't do theirs, then it isn't your problem anymore. It's theirs. The specific example at that time was the issue of what course of action to take when you meet a beggar. Will you give them money though it would probably go into the beggar's "master"'s pocket? Will you give the beggar money though this beggar can still choose to have a job? Will you give the beggar money though in the end, it might only be used for more harm than good? Will you give the beggar anything at all and risk the chance of the beggar's utter dependence on people who give them money?

My teacher admitted that it was a hard decision to make--especially if you don't know if the beggar is REALLY a beggar. The person may just be pulling your leg. But Ms. Ng said that the way she thinks about it is that she will give the beggar whatever, and that is her part--her good deed. And whatever the beggar decides to do with what she's given him/her, then that's his/her part--whether good of bad.

She brought this up again when we were discussing the movie(which I still haven't gotten the chance to watch YET), "Facing the Giants".

My parents tell this to me too. I guess any sane person who doesn't want to get involved in messy business would follow this motto, which in simpler words is just "Mind your own business."

Obviously, I'm the person on the other side of the fence. I REALLY want to disagree. But truth be told, I'm just really torn. I don't know what the right thing to do is. Yeah, I guess the simplest way to know what's right is by asking, "WWJD?(What Would Jesus Do?)". But sometimes, it's not that easy--or I may be just complicating things but WTHeck? I am digressing.

My side is that how can you just MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS? your own problems, etc.etc. See, Jesus WOULD NOT mind his own business. DUDE, he DIED for the whole human race. If he just minded his own business, then he wouldn't have cared--YEAH, I know, minding your own business is not the same as only caring about yourself, BUT damn, well, it's close as close can be--about any of us. Jesus carried ALL our crosses. So I guess the right thing to do is be just as selfless as Him, right? Because it is what Jesus would do. And just like this Buddhist teaching about all of us being connected. This idea's also repeated in Mitch Albom's books. So if all of us inevitably affects each other--

"..the world is full of stories, but the stories are all one."

--then that means that we should NOT mind our own business BECAUSE anybody's business is EVERYBODY's business. AGH. Get what I'm trying to say?

So what Jesus would do is not what my parents/teacher/sane people would do.

If everyone just minded his own business, then no one would help a person who tripped--because it's the fallen person's own business. Sure, I guess some people would rather not be helped and so keep up the facade that they don't need help from other people because 'nothing is wrong' rather than facing the humiliation, while others would be grateful for the help.

I just received a text message from our choir coordinator asking the choir members to pray for our conductor who's in the hospital right now. And I'm thinking about this issue again...and I'm thinking maybe the definition of business is what's wrong. I mean, see, it isn't OUR business what our conductor's choice of living is which could be what lead him to become hospitalized. But it is our business if he gets well enough to be our conductor again. AGH, I'm cunfused myself.

And I'm thinking maybe a simpler way to phrase this argument is: "Selfishness VS. Selflessness." I'm sure others would disagree that minding your own business is selfishness, but think about it. In the end, isn't it all just the same banana?

But the thing is that (thought occurred--SEE I hate writing things down. Writing is so slow compared to how thoughts go around inside my messy mind. I'm just beginning to write this thought, but already my brain has thought behind it....AGH. Hahahaha...)the reason that the motto "Mind your own business" was created in the first place is that we aren't all like Jesus. We are just humans (or not? are humans not limited to this?) so we can't carry EVERYONE's crosses. We aren't divine like HIM. We're just mere mortals. But the confusing part is that a lot agree that doing the right thing is equivalent to WJWD. But maybe it's not?

I DON'T KNOW.

This is my confusion since the beginning of time.

Hahaha... I need enlightenment. The thought that occurred==> the answer to everything is balance. So the answer is (Yes, I answer myself. Don't you?) you need to balance selfishness and selflessness. I mean that you have to know when to be selfish and when to be selfless?? HAHAHA...this is sounding ummm....

Yeah.

I need help, seriously. (Doesn't everyone?)

Love, KC