Turn the Other Cheek So I Can Punch It

Imagine hearing this:

“I can’t stand you. Not to say that I don’t like you. I just can’t stand you. Those are two completely different things. I don’t dislike you. I’m sure there are people in this world who are fully capable of even liking you. I just can’t stand to be around you is all. See the difference? You repulse me.”

Now, imagine your response. Did it involve your fist hitting their face really hard? If not, I’m impressed by your mind’s self control though I doubt that in the actual situation you would be able to refrain from slamming your fist into their face.

I was just wondering, you know how the Bible says that having lustful thoughts about someone that isn’t yours, someone that belongs to another, is just as bad as the actual act of sleeping with that person? If not, it does. It says that. I wonder if that counts for other things too, like punching people in the face? Just imagining is the same as truly committing the act. Seeing a nose break beneath your knuckles is the same as actually causing someone extensive reconstructive face surgery. Cuz if so, I’m gonna have some serious explaining to do when I get up there.

Maybe I should practice turning the other cheek in my mind. But that doesn’t really work cuz turning the other cheek is just a metaphor while punching someone is an action. I could imagine punching someone and actually do it. I could do both. But if I, in reality, turned the other cheek the other person may not understand that’s what I’m doing. They may just think that there’s something more interesting going on to my left. They may think, “Hey, what’s over there? What are you looking at? Why won’t you look at me?” Then I would have to explain what I’m doing and that would be awkward. Plus, they didn’t actually do anything to my first cheek.

So, yeah, I guess that cancels out imagining I’m turning the other cheek. I’m not even really sure what that means. Originally I would have thought it meant to just let it go but it implies more than that. It implies not just walking away or keeping your mouth shut. It implies taking further abuse. Hmmm. I’m interested to know your opinions on this particular topic. Oh, and stop sending me your comments to my blog through facebook and email. Leave it here. This is where it belongs. It just gets displaced in the vast internet space otherwise.

Before my Biblically-inspired tangent I was writing about a really mean quote. I only wrote about it cuz I imagined saying this to someone. It was really mean, right? But I was genuinely trying to find a nice way in my brain to explain not wanting to be around someone while at the same time not disliking them. Tricky. I may have taken it too far with the whole repulsive thing. It hardly matters as I would never say that terribly mean paragraph to anyone ever. And if anyone ever said it to me I wouldn’t punch them in the face, I would curl up into a ball and cry. Words can really hurt. Maybe I’m starting to understand the cheek metaphor a bit better. It would be a lot easier to be punched in the cheek, twice, than to have mean words hurled at you. Taking that would be true character. I feel bad for having ever thought it. I take it back! I turn the other cheek! No, that’s not right. I will eventually learn when and how to use that phrase. Just not today.

-Age