I've started reading a new book today, well I should say that I've started listening to a new book today while out on my noon walk. The book is entitled "Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections Between Sexuality & Spirituality" by Rob Bell (pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church & creator/host of the NOOMA DVD series). I "read" his first book, "Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith", which I thought was interesting as well. Although I have just begun the book, there was one story that moved me.
He relays a story from the diary of a Lt. Col. that was sent into the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after its liberation at the end of WWII. His diary recounts the atrocities he and his fellow soldiers witnessed while there, piles of dead bodies, women choking on their own vomit because they were too weak to roll over, just horrible things that make you wonder how human beings could allow such a place to exist. But Rob had earlier made a point that the concentration camps were designed to remove the "humanity" from the prisoners, reducing them to just numbers and not individuals.
Later in the diary, the Lt. Col. writes this passage after the British Red Cross arrive with supplies that included for some reason a large container filled with red lipstick:"I don’t know who asked for lipstick. I wish so much that I could discover who did it, it was the action of genius, sheer unadulterated brilliance. I believe nothing did more for these internees than the lipstick. Women lay in bed with no sheets and no nightie but with scarlet red lips, you saw them wandering about with nothing but a blanket over their shoulders, but with scarlet red lips. I saw a woman dead on the post mortem table and clutched in her hand was a piece of lipstick. At last someone had done something to make them individuals again, they were someone, no longer merely the number tattooed on the arm. At last they could take an interest in their appearance. That lipstick started to give them back their humanity."
Looking at it from a customer service point-of-view, how many times have we just looked at customers as a 'nuisance' or just an account number, becoming so jaded from the abuse resulting from their frustrations or problems. How often do we really step back and try to look at the situation through their eyes, giving them that 'humanity', trying to understand where they are coming from?
"I'd love my job if it weren't for the customers..." Randall, "Clerks"
Hell, I've been abused more times than I care to count in all the years I have worked in the customer service sector. I've been verbally & physically assaulted because of people's anxiety or frustration & their previous contact with uncaring persons. Even I have been stripped of my 'humanity' in these situations, not known as a caring or feeling person but rather a part of 'the company' that's trying to rip them off or screw them around.
Like it or not, we ALL were created in the image of God whether you choose to believe it or not. Being kind to your fellow man (or woman) shows your love for your creator. Think about that the next time you come across someone having a bad time of things and lashing out at those around them. Love them, help them (if you can), give them some 'humanity' as you deal with them...
"So God created human beings in his own image.In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them." Gen 1:27, NLT
MattyV
www.iweighedmorethanjared.com
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