In a Period of Pressure

It seems that most of us feel that we are living n a period of pressure⎯a pressure that seems to be felt at every level of life: the pressure of complexity, the pressure of anxiety, the pressure of responsibility, and the pressure of competition, which is perennial and ever-present⎯for whoever finds something bigger and better is going to find that others are going to find something still bigger and still better.

And one result of pressure is impatience⎯impatience with all of its side symptoms: quick judgement, quick temper, quick criticism⎯which are so often in evidence from person to person, both in private and in public places.

We often aggravate and irritate each other. We all have better days than others, and some that are worse; and times when we wish we hadn’t been so sharp, times when we wish we hadn’t been so selfish, times when we wish we hadn’t been caustic and critical; times when we say some things we wish we hadn’t said and make decisions we wish we hadn’t made⎯followed by times to ponder and times to repent. And likely there never was a time within the limits of this life, when men individually or collectively couldn’t find much to criticize, much to misjudge, much to misunderstand.

Even in families there may be much to misjudge. Sometimes children are misjudged as to the real reasons for their times of temperament⎯and parents may be misjudged in the matter of alleged preferences in distributing privileges and penalties.

People are not perfect; they make mistakes⎯and simply have to do the best they can, with all the circumstances considered⎯which calls to mind, from Abraham Lincoln, a single significant sentence: “I do the very best I know how⎯the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so.” And this is a plea, in an age of pressure, in an age of impatience, in an age of anxiety, to be more understanding, more reserved in judgement, more willing to withhold criticism until we know more fully the facts⎯and to be a little more kindly and considerate in all relationships of life.

The Lord God after all is the judge of all of us⎯and while the rest of us may reserve the right to criticize, we ought always to do so with some awareness that we seldom know the full facts.