WHAT WE SEE IN OUR NEIGHBORS DEPENDS UPON WHERE WE STAND

REVIEWING THE ACCURACY OF HAROLD ESTES CHARGES  — UPDATED 12/25/2012 has proven to be one of my more popular posts, and so long as people continue to forward Harold Estes’ email to their friends and acquaintances I suppose that popularity will continue. Why did I write that post? It fascinated me how some people reacted to Estes’ letter.  They locked on the details, and they ignored the broader truth. Here, A Rare Political Post: That Damn Letter Again!, is an example. Consider how the author, Tristan D. Vick, cites my blog.

The blogger Citizen Tom does a good job of tracking down all the quotes which Harold B. Estes supposedly referenced in his letter. Most of them, as suspected, are taken out of context. But read it for yourself.

While I appreciate the compliment, I have to wonder whether Vick actually read my post. I don’t think Vick read my conclusion. In essence, I agree with Estes. Yet, if you read Vick’s post, you will find that he vehemently disagrees with Estes’ letter. Therefore, I think Vick merely scanned my post, found what he wanted to find, and then linked to my post.

So what’s the lesson here? Well, I actually see two.

• If something is worth doing, then we must force ourselves to take the time to do it right.
• If we want to understand why others believe what they believe, then we have to make the effort to put ourselves in their shoes.

Did Vick force himself to do it right? Usually we all avoid that sort of work. That is why we have all received a great many emails with wrong information. Our friends and relatives read an email that conforms to their world view, instantly believe what they have read is true, and so they forward that email to their family and friends. Like as not, when Vick read my post he did something similar. Instead of carefully reading what I wrote, he just saw what matched his preconceived notions and jumped to a conclusion.

Did Vick try to put himself in Estes’ shoes? I believe he thinks he did, but I think best to let others decide for themselves how well he succeeded.

Read A Rare Political Post: That Damn Letter Again! However, when you read Vick’s post, I suggest you try something I expect you will find difficult. Try putting yourself in Vick’s shoes and believing what he believes. Don’t think it worth the effort? When Christ Jesus died on Good Friday, He did more than that. He put himself in our place, and He suffered the punishment we deserve.