Like the Children

The other day in Editing class, Mr. Blake spent a good portion of class making a point that was too good not to share with y'all. I'm certain that my rendition will be less effective or eloquent, but share I must. (I apologize to those of you who have heard all of this from Blake already. It's just such a good point!)

He began the class by explaining that his wife, a first-grade teacher, had him into her classroom one Sunday to spend five hours scrubbing desks, creating bulletin boards, fixing things, and doing general cleaning. Wanting to teach her students about letter-writing, she had them all write him thank-you letters for his hard work. He passed around their letters and gave us each some photocopies to keep. (His favorite and mine was one that said "thanyou for dowenis to us.")

He then handed around a letter from an Adventist pastor, written 18 years ago in response to an issue of Insight, the publication which Blake edited at the time. They had done an edgy issue entirely focusing on abortion. The pastor sent the letter to over 4,000 people: conference officials, union offices, GC staff, pastors, and laypeople. It was less than complimentary, to say the least (it in fact asked for Mr. Blake and anyone associated with him to resign).

After the hullabaloo died down, Mr. Blake had the opportunity to speak with the letter's author. He walked right up to him and said "Hi, I'm Chris Blake from Insight Magazine," at which point the pastor began to sweat and stammar.

Long story short, they repaired the relationship. Mr. Blake treated the man with dignity and respect, they shared their views on abortion (which wound up to be nearly the same), and they discussed the Biblical principle of going to a person when you take issue with him or her (as opposed to going to 4,000 of your nearest friends). The man eventually wrote an apology letter and even asked Mr. Blake to give him a job reference for a pastoral ministerial position.

Although I loved Mr. Blake's point about treating people respectfully no matter how badly they slam you, the real wisdom for me came when he tied it all together (oh yes, ribbon principle, you rock). Those kids' messy, adorable, misspelled thank-you notes were far more effective than a pastor's far-reaching letter. The crayoned thank-you cards made him want to go help those kids again, whereas an inappropriate and angry letter didn't accomplish much of anything (other than getting lots of people who normally wouldn't read Insight to pick up that issue!). I want to be in the first group, how 'bout you? More effective, and you make people happy!

God has said to be like little children. Turns out, He was right, huh?