Seriously, it does. Whether it is for a sick child or an aging parent, caring can kill us with anxiety, to say the least. Caring can also cost us
an arm and a leg. Caring steals the time we could spend on being
part of America's Idle by either watching American Idol or predicting who will
finish in first place. And our suffering is compounded when the person
we care for is not just unappreciative, but is hostile. Now if that
can happen when one cares for family, guess what could happen when one
cares for those outside of the family!
Caring might mean skipping the newest Harry Potter movie or not
buying a 3-D TV--HDTV is so ancient now--because our time is needed
elsewhere or we don't have the energy to be interested.
Caring kills conversations. While we could be discussing who's
wearing what or who's seeing who, and while we could be talking about
what dad did now, we instead speak about our neighbor, our neighborhood, or someone
else's neighborhood. And when those about whom we care belong to a
questionable group, caring can start heated arguments some of which end
friendships.
Caring adds to our already heavy workload. Caring can dump a 2nd or
3rd job on our laps, a job that is not only unpaid with horrendous
hours and no benefits, it charges us by the hour while putting us under
the supervision of unreasonable bosses.
Caring steals our time as we read and think about or travel to speak
for those whom we will never meet. Such caring can cost us this year's
dream vacation as those funds are spent elsewhere.
Caring can lead to depression when those for whom we care have no
hope because power & wealth have become manic. Caring can cost us
either our self-esteem as we are constantly ignored or even ridiculed or our job when we care for the wrong people.
Caring can lead to crime when one becomes desperate in getting the
attention of society's players or the government whose only response is: "Talk to the
hand."
And despite the fact that caring has so many hazards that the
Surgeon General should put a warning label on it, everybody cares. Yes,
they do! Some, however, have learned the secrets to caring and I am
going to share them with you not for $100, not for $50, or not even for $19.95, but for FREE! What are the secrets
that allow us to care with impunity? The first secret is to not care
too much. That is right! All one has to do here is to say they care but
add that maturity demands that they move on with life and be responsible
for themselves.
The second secret that immunizes us from the
diseases caused by caring is, just as one should not care
too much, one should not care for too many. It is similar to Jack
Byrnes' "circle of trust" from the movie Meet The Parents. Jack's
circle was not disruptive because it was small for Jack only trusted those whom he could
control. Likewise, if we limit the number of people we care for, while
not forgetting the first secret, we can get away with caring.
So now that you know how to care without needing care, CARE ON! But
be sure you follow the two secrets or you could become like the poor sap described below:
For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
that we should look at him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face,
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows he carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53: 2-4,
and that's not all folks!
