Making Friends...Or Not

I blame my mother. Sorry, Mermie, there has to be a fall guy and you're it. It's not really that bad. You should hear the good stuff I say about you. There I go, round and round again. I think I have ADHD. I'm sorry, what were we talking about? Oh, yeah, the way I tend to show my ass over and over. This time it was at a church council meeting. Look at me go.

We have no youth director at our church. There is a core group of about 4 of us that have taken leadership and responsibility for the program and the kids involved in it. Every month we have a council meeting that encompasses all the committees and ministries of the church. Each sends a representative and we give updates and reports and answer any questions about recent activity. The core four of us have decided to rotate the attending of the meeting. I always seem to cause some kind of ruckus or another. Wouldn't you know Sunday was my day? Big smile!

We had two members of our congregation go to the Conference meeting. That is where all the churches in the state get together and talk about comings and goings. One of our delegates was giving the report on a speaker who's report was on Africa and how the United Methodist church can help. Apparently, the gist of it was that we needed to change the politics. It wasn't clear to our delegate whether he meant our politics or theirs. That's when I popped off at the mouth. I really need to stop that. My comment, which I didn't realize was as loud as it was until I saw every one turn and look at me, was "We need to work on the politics in this country before we can even think about helping someone else. We can't even get our own stuff straight."

You should have seen the faces. You should have seen mine when I realized that I did say it out loud. I wasn't there to stir the pot. I was there to listen and give a report about what our youth were doing. That was going well.

The next part was when the delegate was talking about the speaker's recommendation that we work closely with the UN. My snort was a little louder than I intended. My comment of "Why would we waste time working with them? They're trying to undermine everything the US has ever stood for" didn't seem to go over well. Oops. Once again, it got quiet and all eyes were on me. While I normally don't mind that, this probably wasn't the best time or place to air my politics. I know what tact is, I just don't always know when to use it.

The third point that was made was that the US should forgive the debt of third world countries to help them get on their feet and establish themselves. Yeah, well, there I went again. It was almost like I couldn't stop myself. "We can't pay our own debts. China owns more of us than we do. We should start collecting more of those debts and make everyone start standing on their own." I meant to whisper that. I did. I just whispered it loudly. To the guy sitting next to me, who kept rolling his eyes. I'm not sure if he was agreeing with me or waiting to get me alone so he could throttle me. Either way, the faces were all turned in my direction again.

I need to try to remember to use my powers for good. I need to try to remember that there is a time and place for everything, not every time and every place for everything. I need to continue to educate the masses about the trouble our country is in. I just need to pick a better time for the education. Thankfully, I don't go back to a meeting for four months. We'll see how much trouble I can get myself into then. God help them all, and me, too.