Posture

I have enjoyed baseball since I was a little kid. I have spent many hours playing, watching, and thinking about baseball. In the late 1980s early 90s I like most boys my age collected baseball cards. I remember spending hours looking, and pouring over them.

There was a game a few of us would play in college. We would go to steak n shake late at night and see how long we could name 1980s baseball players until someone would finally lose. It could take hours. After going through all the starters of the teams we would go through backups. One of my favorites was a back up catcher for the Pirates by the name of Benny Distafano. It was great fun and in some way stroked our egos. But all it did was confirm that we had spent to many hours pouring over a game. In the same way people get into star wars and other "nerdy" things. Yet we were definitely "nerdy."

I realize as I get older that as we become more knowledgable, the temptation is to develop a level of pride. I know more about a certain topic so thus I am smarter, and in turn more valuable. I have seen it in my own life so many times, it is a constant battle to think of someone less because they have less knowledge in a certain area.

In a conversation recently I had about helping people, this topic came up. It is very easy to develop a posture of I can help you because I am more enlightened, smarter, richer, or whatever. There will be knowledge that could be of help to those in need physically, mentally, or emotionally. But knowledge doesn't have to be a one way street.

It is easy for us to view individuals, races, or clusters of people as beneath us. The more exposed to others, the more I realize how little I know.  I realize how little I know about faith, trust, God, and community.

Just because Kyle has disabilities and may not know a lot life, there are many things that I can learn from him. But I can only learn if my posture is right. If I view him as someone who is a burden or who couldn't possibly teach me anything, than I am the one who loses out.