yesterday as we drove to park our car before work, tbV and i saw some traffic cops putting a white piece of paper on a parked car…
immediately we jumped to the conclusion that it was a parking ticket and went to that place you go to when you see a cop sticking a ticket on a car [even when it’s not yours] – Urgh, shtupidt cop! or some rendition of that…
as we drove closer, we realised that the cops were putting the papers on every single car that was parked in the area we normally park our cars [and it did seem a little early to be fining people in 2 to 4 hour parking zones]
and as we walked up, having parked the car, we realised that what they had been sticking on to cars was in fact warning notices that read ‘Keeping Windows in Your Car’ [so yes, they could still use our literary help] and a whole list on the back of Prevention ideas and then contact details for Reporting incidents that happen.
quick lesson in stereotyping and prejudice…
and generally the reason for stereotyping and generalising is that there has been something modelled that leads you to that place…
but the problem with generalising and stereotyping is that there are always exceptions and times where you will get it completely wrong
[and times when it will be good for all personkind for you to let go of the stereotype and generalisation altogether forever]
so i tend to lean towards an INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY mentality [although clearly don’t always get that right]
which looks to say: I will expect the best from you until such time as you give me reason not to
this sometimes means we have to fight against the stereotypes that have been passed on to us from family or culture or even country…
i imagine a lot of the time this relates to race… [which we have been talking about over here]
religion must be another one – all muslims are… all atheists are… certainly all christians are…’
and so on… is this an area you need to work on?
![The Road to the Catan World Champs in Malta 2022! [Part II]](https://brettfish.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/IMG_9944-scaled-e1669831201283-500x383.jpg)
![The Road to the Catan World Champs in Malta 2022! [Part I]](https://brettfish.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/catanchampionships-500x383.jpg)
Well said, I feel that this kind of mentality is sadly one which comes with our fast paced lives we are trained to make assumptions on first glance because there is simply so much information battering us from all sides. Also anything that gets in our way along this journey is quickly labeled ‘irritating’. Being in a constant rush, the car in front must simply ‘get out of my way’ without any consideration that at any given time you may be that person who is driving slower than the one behind you. It’s simply a matter of circumstance as to how you react. Definitely something we can all work on! The word says ‘Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;’.
I have definitely been challenged in this area lately!
Steph Odell
oh absolutely Steph, had not thought about the fast-pacedness of life as being somewhat responsible but i think you are spot on with what you say here. We are heading out to a vineyard today for some led prayer/reflection time and i think that finding ways of ‘Slowing Down’ is a good principle to inject and to spend some more time thinking about – thankx for the idea!