Thought of the Day 07.24.08

The other day on the show we talked about whether we should care what other people think of us. As the hemming and hawing set in, I pointed out that the problem here is with the question. “Other people” is far too broad a category to be answered coherently, but as soon as you refine the group, the answers become rather obvious.

Should we care what siblings, friends, coworkers, church members, and parents think of us? Obviously, yes. Should we care what immoral, tasteless, or falsely pious people think of us? Obviously, no. In fact, one might even say that the proper test for distinguishing among people is precisely the issue of whether we should care what they think of us.
.
Love means being vulnerable, and being so precisely in the sense that you suffer when the appropriate others judge you adversely. The person who cares about the wrong opinions may have misdirected love, but the person who cares about no one’s opinion has no love at all.