Poison

I heard the analogy once that failing to forgive is like drinking a bottle of poison and waiting for the other person to die.

So the story behind this image was brought back tonight as some sloanies sat around talking about the rivalry game, Max Hall’s generally poor sportsmanship and lack of charity and humility, as well as that of many fans on both sides of BYU / Utah fandom.

During the conversation, Steve says “I hate BYU fans. I hate myself!” haha. There’s a part of him that likes BYU football and wants to root for them, but he’s just completely turned off by the arrogance and childishness of so many of the fans (and recently, the players themsleves– think Collie and Hall). Thus his being the “most conflicted dude in the world” when it comes to college sports.

You see, good sportsmanship is where you can compete in a sport without it ever getting personal. You not only respect your opponent but hold no ill will towards them. Some argue that Max Hall’s feelings are justified because of how his parents were treated a year ago at the rivalry game.

My response is that no good ever comes form holding grudges and not forgiving. That poison is bitter and it will slowly destroy you.

There’s a reason why the Lord counsels us in Matthew 5:44 to “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”

It’s because that resentment born of unforgiveness, and enmity in general (read: pride of the self-righteous and puffed up) do not lead to happiness (how can they? Hatred is the opposite of love), but rather lead away from happiness and are destructive by nature. God tells us to love our enemies for our own good.

So two things from this: 1) we can learn from a good example of a bad example. And 2) I do hope Max learns this lesson some day, for his own sake.

It’s so important for us to manage our thoughts and feelings and figure out how to make love the basis for any interaction we have with (or even thoughts about) others, especially those we disagree with or perhaps are even our enemies.

Now if I could just be better about practicing what I preach…