Complaints

It seems that lately the theme of complaints has come up pretty frequently in my life, but not necessarily in the way that one would expect. For once in my very long and sordid history with complaining, it is not I who forges ahead with a laundry list of complains (well, there's always a little laundry list, I suppose).

Since the semester has begun, I have taken some time to just stop and listen to students around me. From my vantage point, I can be an unnoticed, hidden little fly on the wall, observing real student interaction from the safety of the back corner of my office. And what I hear more than anything else is, well, complaining (and swear words, but I'll save that for another post). Complaining about classes; complaining about professors; complaining about "friends", enemies, acquaintances; complaining about other peoples' complaining; complaining about home life, dorm life, night life... There never seems to be a limit to what students can come up with.

And the source of complaint is nearly never at the fault of the complainer. No, certainly one could never be the source of their own demise. It's always them-this, or you-that, or he-did-this... What has happened to responsibility? Accountability? I guess it's just not how to spills out of the mouth, I suppose.

All this complaining can get a little draining, slowly rubbing off my optimistic sheen, wearing me down to a much duller surface, but then, just as life would have it, the idea of complaining gets shed in a different light. Thank you, World View Seminar Two. The Declaration of Independence is one of the most foundational and important documents to the construction and foundation of the United States. Did you know that the vast bulk of that document is a laundry list of complaints? It launches quite the attack on the King of Britain and its government, citing issues with removing representation, taxation, abolishing necessary laws, killing off trade, limiting population growth, turning colonists against colonists...the list goes on and on. Without this list of complaints (and the declaration that followed), the United States would have never been. So, complaining, as far as I can tell, is not always only bad, wearing, or useless.

And to further the theme of compaints in recent life, the sermon last Sunday touched upon it. In a discussion surrounding the idea of sin substitution, which is not only removing the sin from your life, but filling the area that's left with something else (work, hobbies, etc.), the idea of anger was addressed. Jesus, as it turns out, got ticked off a time or two. Lazarus dies and Jesus is maddened to the point of sobbing. People used the temple as a market place, and Jesus started throwing things and cracked a whip around. And sometimes, in anger, we just need to complain to God. We need to be brutally honest in order to let go of the situation at hand. Prayers are recorded in the Bible of people asking God to kill those that were making things difficult or terrible - to kill them! Now that's a big complaint.

So, where must I land in all of this complaining business? Well, there have been times in my life, where I, like those students who routinely sit outside my office with nothing good to say, have limited my speech to only negative, whiny, complaints, and like me in my office, observers have been worn down and disheartened at my attitude. And there are still times where I find my mouth smack in the middle of an audible complaint before I can even stop it from coming out. I don't like to complain. I don't like it. It has become, for me, a daily challenge to myself to halt a lot of that language from leaving my head and coming out of my mouth because I know that for some, I am an example that is looked to for how to act and live. I want to make sure that complaining doesn't make the top of the list of character traits people gain from observing me.

But, I have to say, that life without complaint is a near impossible feat. In fact, there are necessary times for complaining, times when no complaint would be harmful and hurtful. There are times when righteous complaint is required, even Jesus proved that. When students are treated wrongfully, I will complain. When I'm being taken advantage of at work, I will probably complain. When things need to change and voices need to be heard, odds are good that you'll hear mine.

So, I guess complaining is a coin with two sides. It's not good, but it can be. It's not necessary, but sometimes it may be. And it's not always ungodly to complain, but sometimes it is. No matter what I think about complaining, it is my hope that you find me smiling and laughing far more often anyway.