It is no secret the more tired we become the more irritable we become. Our patience runs thin. We are put off by things we would have hardly noticed were we not at the edge of our physical resources. Today I was with a group of people who worked very hard for fourteen or fifteen hours. It was interesting to watch them relate as the day grew long. Most made an effort to be gracious but some grew, I think “testy” is the best word to use. Tomorrow they will be better.
Action hero movies make a lot of money. Good looking, well-built men on a noble cause blow up cars, blast through buildings, punch out a host of bad guys. We watch them and inwardly cheer their bold aggression. In Proverbs 16:32 we read, “Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.” So who would go to see a movie about a patient man? It would lack exciting chase scenes and we would not get the inner satisfaction of seeing the bad guys smashed. The badder the villains the more we want the action hero to hit them.
But that is Hollywood. If we come back to the real world of real human relations then truly a patient man is better than a warrior. A ruler who maintains peace is better than a general who aggressively defeats an enemy. However we build monuments to the warriors and let the peacemakers slip unseen into history. Surely it says much about our nature.
Written by Roger Bothwell on August 30, 2006
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