“People throw rocks at things that shine…”

I’m inspired by another line from a song.  This time the song is “Ours” by Taylor Swift.  As my older daughter is one of the biggest Swift fans, I hear a lot of her work.  I’m not complaining; I enjoy it very much.  Mostly, I’m taken by her gift for words.  This particular line hit me.

“People throw rocks at things that shine”

Nowadays that is SOOOO true!

When I was a kid, people tried to be respectful to each other.  Parents taught their children, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”  Criticism were given, but given with care.

Sometimes, when I’m reading an article or a blog on the computer, I’ll check out the comments.  It’s really shameful the way people will try to outdo each other in being nasty!  If a celebrity announces having a child, there are comments like, “If that kid looks like the parent, it’ll be so ugly!” or “Another spoiled brat; they should be fixed!”  If someone wins an award, people complain about “Hollywood wasting money padding up their egos.”  If someone (celebrity or not) makes a large donation, their either accused of just trying to get attention…or worse, of not giving ENOUGH.

People throw rocks at things that shine, especially if it’s not theirs.

Even Ms. Swift herself is no stranger to these rocks.  She’s young, she’s talented, she’s beautiful, she’s successful, and she lives a clean life.  She truly shines.  As a result, she gets rocks.  “Her voice is horrible!”  “She can’t sing!” “All her songs sound the same.”  “She only writes about high school stuff!”  “She’s so stuck up.”  “Her eyes are too squinty.”  “How long ‘til she ends up in jail or on drugs?”  She’s never done anything to warrant any of these comments, and none of them are remotely true.  There are other young, clean celebrities in the same boat.

People throw rocks at things that shine.

How innocuous is a group of children reciting John 3:16?  Focus on the Family released a commercial for their organization that was nothing more than that.  They weren’t selling anything, weren’t beating anyone over the head, weren’t saying, “You’ll go to HELL if you don’t agree!”  It was simply a short film of children reciting John 3:16, with a few little embellishments.  It was actually cute.  It was originally shown during some football game.  I heard about it and saw it on YouTube.  I’ve heard that people have been making absolutely horrible comments!  Apparently, because some people were being so inflammatory, they made it so that people could not add comments!  Do the people making these comments feel threatened by these children?

I really wish that there were more positive comments in the world, that people would throw fewer rocks and shine more lights.

As an aside, my favorite comment that I almost always see in any article is, “Who cares?”  Obviously, THEY must, to have opened the article, read it, and take the time to make the comment.