November 10, 2006

Wrong

Yesterday afternoon I went for a walk to clear my head of a paper I was trying to write. On the way back I went by two police officers who were attending to street repairs around the corner from our house. As I passed them I said hi. One of them looked at me and said, "You don't look right walking around here." I smiled, but I was speechless at the comment.

I hardly think about it, but it's true. I live in the wrong neighborhood. By the world's standards, I don't belong here. And I'm proud of it. Proud of it in the Lord, of course.

It reminded me of a band I used to listen to back in college, Nomeansno. Their best album, "Wrong," contained a poster or something that said, "Be Strong. Be Wrong." I hung it in my dorm room, and I think it might still be pasted to the inside of the lid of my footlocker.

Sometimes that's just the attitude that the disciple of the Lord needs. To have the strength and courage to think and do the wrong thing in the eyes of the selfish and glittering ideologies of this world.
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3 comments:

  1. Eleanor Burne-Jones12:00 PM

    Bless you! :0)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jeff10:14 AM

    Friar,

    Ditto... God Bless.

    I wonder what could prompt such a remark? Were you in habit?

    I've had a few instances where I've inadvertantly (in my view) run afoul of police officers who insisted on asserting their "command presence" to me without provocation on my part. I find myself resenting it, but I have to remind myself that at the end of the day, he would risk his life or me, or God forbid, have to come across the aftermath of someone's children in a car crash... It must be a difficult job for them, and I'm sure they take a lot of abuse.

    Still, I'm not likely to be one who "looks wrong in the neighborhood." It must be a difficult daily struggle for minorities, etc...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Brother Charles11:15 AM

    Thanks Jeff. I remember one time when I was a teenager I was standing around on a street corner with two friends. A cop came over and told us to "disperse." We just laughed at him - the idea that a crowd of three could "disperse" struck us as funny.

    Luckily, I've learned a little more respect for people with tough jobs.

    ReplyDelete

Faithful, or even just thoughtful criticisms are always welcome. Uninformed rudeness to other posters or to the Lord and His Church is not.

I also reserve the right to reject comments promoting things like private revelations and fringe points of view, if it seems to me like they are being presented in a misleading way.

If you raise a disagreement with something I say but I do not respond, please do not feel slighted or insulted, or imagine that this automatically means I disagree or agree with you. It's just that I don't find the comment box to be a constructive medium for certain forms of debate.