Saturday, October 21, 2006

I, Me, Mine

I, Me, Mine.
(with apologies to George Harrison)

All through the day
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
All through the night
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine.
George Harrison

Captains log: Sometime in 2004.
A few years ago I noticed the possibility that I might be self-centered. It wasn't an overpowering awareness that sent me to my knees begging forgiveness. It was subtle. I noticed I had a tendency to cut people off in traffic, to scream at stop sign runners and a few other things like rushing to the checkout stand in order to beat the little old lady with two items while I only had a basket full. Okay, maybe it wasn't a tendency. It was the way I acted. Good grief, I'm a sinner. Thankfully the thought left as quickly as it came.

The selfishness of the world had always been obvious. Things like cutting someone off in traffic, not opening doors for others and letting kids run wild in restaurants are rampant. Even I did it and knew full well that I was in the wrong every time. Hey, I'm not perfect. I'll try and do better. And I did! Except in school parking lots. Oh, and at stop signs. But I didn't cut off little old ladies at the grocery store.... as often.

Then came the clinker. The one thing that began to drive me crazy. Everybody started talking about themselves. Really, they did. Okay, it wasn't like everybody in the world suddenly started talking about themselves. I started to notice that virtually every sentence was about "I, Me, Mine". It was awful. "Listen to 'em", I said, "I this. I that. Me, me, me. They all sound like the gulls on "Finding Nemo!" MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE!"


I Thought to myself,

"CAN'T ANYBODY SAY A SENTENCE WITHOUT USING A FIRST PERSON SINGULAR PRONOUN?"

I was soooooo glad that I wasn't like them. (Luke 18:11) Or was I? I started listening to myself. I used FPSP's, too! Not a little bit. A lot.

"I'M JUST LIKE THEM! ARGGGGH!"

"Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." (Phil. 2:3-4)

Captains Log: 47 days before Lent 2006.
The pastor has asked us to participate during Lent. The idea was to give up something during the 40 days of Lent. Not just something that wouldn't be missed like not going to Africa to be a missionary or to not eat spinach. It has to be something dear or important to us. It's supposed to be a reminder that God gave up His Son (John 3:16) for us.

Guess what I gave up.... That's right! First person singular pronouns. And peanut butter. Hey, I love peanut butter! Giving up FPSP's wasn't easy to do. I had to think about everything I was going to say in order not to use a FPSP. Imagine having to think before you speak. Going an hour was hard enough, but I was going to go 40 days. There were many thoughts about God giving up His Son.

Thinking about others was the other side of the coin. As Philippians 2:4 says,

"Look not every man on his own things, but every man also
on the things of others.”

In order to not use FPSP's another person had to come into the picture. It was no longer "my house" it was "our house". Not "what will I have for dinner " but "what will we have for dinner". The subject could no longer be me but others.

There was no way I could go that long without using FPSP's. I was a failure but the lessons learned were invaluable. Next year I'll have to give something else up for Lent because I'm going to continue the practice of not talking about myself. Maybe I'll give up peanut butter.

Try it. You'll hate it but you'll love the lessons.

3 comments:

angela said...

This was good Don...and youa re right...we are all much too self absorbed. And I know when I am doing it, too. which is alot.

I think that your modification is good, because if we SAY "we" then not only are we saying it, but that is what our ears are hearing, which gives us kind of a double shot of the more plural thinking.

I am going to try to be more cognizant of this and use your pronoun preference...

I liked the time line, too.:-)

Don said...

Not using FPSP's is practically impossible. However, we must endeavor to not make ourselves the center of attention. It makes sense.

One good example is to not say, "I think you're nose is big." We must say, "You're nose is big."

Of course, with someone such as the author of this post (pretty slick, huh?) you'd have to say something about being bald, short or ugly.

angela said...

You are none of those things....you are funny though. And talented...but your nose is not big.

Just checking back to see what you were up to:-)
a:-)