Everybody should act medium

Several years ago, I read a book in which a guy told a story about a neighborhood boys’ club. When setting up the club, the boys had quite a time deciding what rules would be instituted. Finally, they decided on just three rules. 

Nobody act big.

Nobody act small.

Everybody act medium.

These rules seem quite simplistic, but they can be profound. Let’s put them in real life. 

Last week a friend of mine posted a picture of something on social media saying it made her sad. That was all she said. She said nothing else about the post. 

It was a situation that she found sad to see, because it brought back memories of a better time, and she just wanted to express that sadness. It didn’t take long for the people to come out on both side of the political spectrum and make that post into a war…with people claiming to know more about it because they had lived closer to where the picture was taken and adding a comment that implied like they thought that Wyomingites would have don’t care about what happens across the country from us. 

Others claimed the problem in the photo was caused by one political side or the other. As I looked at the post and the comments, I was amazed at how big people were acting, how small they wanted others to act. They were all forgetting to act medium. 

Act medium, think about the fact that we don’t know where others have been or have come from. We don’t know where they are politically, most people have their stand but don’t attach everything that happens to a political agenda. We must learn to agree to disagree. We must learn to not put others down to make ourselves look bigger. We must learn that even if we don’t agree it doesn’t mean there is any hate involved. 

In this political climate, during this election year it seems that we have become so polarized that there is no way to meet in the middle. If we claim to be on one side, we have to be so far on that side that we are not comfortable with ourselves. If we take a more moderate stance then we are called names and condemned usually by both sides. 

Whatever happened to having boundaries but being willing to at least listen to what the other guy is saying and maybe, just maybe thinking that there is merit to what is being said. Instead, we want to hold the line, to be inflexible because that is more praiseworthy. 

Act medium, listen, be teachable, be willing to look at all sides of an issue before determining what to believe. Instead of just going off the deep end because of what news station reported the incident, check out all the sources, even the ones we don’t necessarily read or consider, there might be a lot more to a story than each one reports. 

Act medium, in other words, give grace. Be willing to live and let live. There is room for all opinions in my circle of friends. I don’t have to agree with them all. I can still like people and even be friends with them and not agree with them. Most of all I don’t think it is ever necessary to make someone feel small just so I can feel bigger. 

No body act big. No body act small. Everybody act medium.