Here’s my radio spot on rooting for our friends to fail. Something I would obviously never do. . .
Photo by Love Equals Photography
When my Kindergartener Danny came home the other day I asked him, “What was the best part of school today?” He said, “Somebody had to go to Safe Seat, but this time it wasn’t me. Heeheehee.” This is also my child that had a big enough problem at school that he felt compelled to write an apology to his teacher, but then signed his sister’s name to it. I may not have given birth to this boy, but is he ever my child! How many times have I found joy in the wrong choices of somebody else because they made me feel better about my life? When I’ve made a bad decision, don’t I want to find somebody else to blame or to prove that I’m not the only one? When I see somebody seems to have it all together, I find myself actively looking for the ways they fail so I can feel validated in my own failures. How different am I from my five year-old taking joy that for once somebody else is in trouble or trying to pass the responsibility for his failings on to his little sister? I want to be rejoicing in the joy of my friends and grieving their sorrows with them instead of looking for ways to make myself feel better. I want to be the kind of friend who is actively looking for ways to build up the community around me and encouraging them on toward acts of love and good deeds.