Magoo!

This is a flash blog...so hold on!


I have a member of my church, we'll call her "Kristin,"  who keeps a blog. She is, to my thinking, a writer, a singer, a partner with her boyfriend, a loving pet owner, a good friend, person of faith, a compassionate adventurer.


Recently Kristin went to a conference to have some of her writing assessed by peers. Peer review can be a very stressful and very rewarding process. Folks who have similar passions come together to constructively work on making the "best product possible" out of what you've created. As a local pastor, I am on the receiving end of all kinds of reviews every time I open my mouth or publish a thought. It can be frightening. It can be frustrating. It can be thought provoking. It can also be painful.


I've found that there are two kinds of pain: 1. the kind you grow through; 2. the kind that you grow past. Both require healing. 


The kind of pain you grow through comes from someone who knows a lot of your work, saying to you, "this isn't your finest. I think you can do better. Here's what might help..." That is constructive criticism that takes in a lot of factors and sends me on a journey of discovery. I wonder: was I having a bad day? Did the issue push a button for me that I wasn't aware of...or I was aware of and I just didn't care enough in the moment to be attentive to it? What can I do in the future to make this situation better? Healthier? More authentic to my true voice and nature? The steps I take to address those questions are usually uncomfortable, but because I have been set on a track to something better, I am willing to make the trek...each painful step of the way. Many times I actually make it to the Promised Land...where I usually find some new issues to address. Such is living.


The kind of pain that you grow past comes from someone who myopically judges you or your thoughts based on one moment in time. "You spoke about a political issue today, you must be obsessed with politics. Why don't you ever talk about something else?" "You brought up finances in a sermon, all you ever do is talk about money! I left my last church because that's all they ever talked about." I call it the Magoo Syndrome. 


For you youngsters reading this blog, Mr. Magoo was a nice cartoon character who could only see halfway to the end of his nose. He regularly bumped into things, made false assumptions, and created all kinds of chaos with his shortsightedness He usually had no idea the havoc he had caused as he bumbled merrily along his way in pursuit of some simple task. Without casting people as cartoons, I will say that Magoo Syndrome is something most everyone I know (including myself) has been infected with at one time or another. It's just easier to pigeon hole somebody based on a few haphazardly collected facts, than it is to get to know a person. 


Back to Kristin. Kristin attended a writers workshop and was accosted by Magoo Syndrome. She was reduced to a single issue in a single piece of writing that she had poured her heart and soul into. The fullness of her life was negated by a single sentence which went something like: 

"All I get from this blog is that the author is a pathetic person 

who is completely identified by her illness.

MAGOOOOOOOOOOOO!


All I get from that critique is that the speaker is: 1. not a good peer reviewer; 2. afraid of illness; 3. lacks compassion; 4. craves attention; 5. missed the point; 6. doesn't know Kristin at all; 7. made a judgement of an individual based on one small but passionate piece of evidence; 8. needs to be reigned in by the facilitator of the group so that she doesn't make such a magoo-ish mistake again...but that could be my Magoo speaking.


I remember getting a 0 on my first paper in New Testament studies at seminary. That's not an O as in octopus...that's a zero. I had not understood the assignment and had taken a creative approach to the paper. The professor wrote: "You have no business in the ministry. Pack your bags and save yourself the money you would otherwise waste here."

Quite an assessment. Fortunately for me, I knew I had a calling to ministry, and I marched (Ok, sauntered...) over to the professor's office and demanded an apology. I asked him who he thought he was to crush a first semester student on the first paper of the semester? He said I had incensed him. I explained my process and told him that while he was certainly at liberty to critique my academic accomplishments, he had no business commenting on what God was up to with me. He quietly agreed and apologized. He also kept the paper a zero. I worked my butt off to pass...and I did, with a B...and 3 years later that professor was standing on the platform, shaking his head, smiling, and handing me my diploma.

I hope Kristin will continue to write. I hope she'll be able to grow past this Magoo moment. From what I have seen of her work, and her growth as a human being, it looks to me like she has a calling.

--todd