Hidden Treasures

"In the social circle we treasure, there are three kinds of people: friends, enemies, and friendly enemies."

If I were to open up your box of hidden treasures, what would I see?  I would see the things most important to you, but who else are you hiding them from?  Who do you show what you're really all about, and from whom do you keep your innermost secrets?  Most people have a side of them that they are afraid to show for fear of being rejected, humiliated, laughed at, talked about, or just plain not understood.  Unfortunately for most, it's the best side of them.  Now some of you out there NEED to hide what's really on the inside of you--and please, get you some help.  If that's you, you're not who I'm talking to right now, but that doesn't mean you can't come see me later--in my office!  Come, lay down on my couch and tell me about your childhood.  No, I'm kidding.  I don't even do that anymore, but I am talking seriously to those who have good in them that never gets out.  In a world so corrupt, one that lacks integrity, those who want to do good feel a need to hide within them the things that matter, in order to keep their social circle in tact.  But when was the last time you took a real good look at your social circle?  Whose in it?  Do you even know?  I can tell you that if you divide all the people you know into similar groups, you will find three major categories: friends, enemies, and friendly enemies. The friends would be the easiest to spot; they'd be the ones in the tiny group!  But here's a task for you: put yourself in the group that closely resembles you.  Where would you be?  In the trusted group or one of the ones to watch out for?  Maybe the good in you is not so good after all.  If you're the person who hides the good within you (buries your talent) in order to stay a part of the rest of the group, place yourself in one of the enemy camps, because the reality of you is that you're no good, either!  You're not a friend.  Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

I get it.  You don't want to be alone; you don't want to be different.  You don't want others to talk about you; you don't want to rock the boat.  Oh, yeah: you don't want them to not like you anymore, so you keep all of the good stuff on the inside of you hidden away from the bad people you want to associate with.  That makes YOU a friendly enemy, which is the worst of the three!

The problem with concealing your good is that, not only does it keep you from growing as an individual, it keeps you from nurturing the good, or drawing out the bad, in those around you.  So, if there's any good in any of you at all, it's never going to come out because they're going to end up  hiding theirs, as well.  In that situation, there's no good to be found anywhere in your circle.  Unfortunately, yours is not the only group of people doing that.  There are others.  And still others.   In a world where all that's good is hidden, there can't be anything but...well...bad!  If everything good is hidden, what would the world we live in be like?  I'll tell you:  a sick, psychotic one!  And that's the world we NOW live in!  Read the newspaper.  Watch the news.  It's all right there: Josh Powell, Jerry Sandusky, Alyssa Bustamante (fifteen year old who thrill killed a nine year old girl and then went to church), Buddy Potter and Jaimie Lynn Curd (the father and second cousin who killed a couple for "defriending" Buddy's daughter on Facebook,  Brittany Norwood (Lululemon killing in the Maryland/Washington D.C. area), the Miramonte Elementary School scandal where two teachers have been accused of sexual molestation,  Ayla Reynolds (the missing toddler whose blood was found in her dad's home), Casey Anthony, and unfortunately, the list goes on.  

How do you know whether or not you have people in close proximity to you who are capable of committing heinous crimes like the ones mentioned above?  They all had people around them that thought they knew them well, and were shocked upon hearing what they had done.  Though it's certainly not the fault of their loved ones that these people did what they did, I can't help but wonder whether or not anyone in their social circle had been brave enough to open up and express their hidden good.  It may not have stopped them from doing what they did, but it certainly would have had an effect on them.  How?  Talk about the good in you to the people around you and watch how they react.  Some of them are going to squirm.  Others are going to laugh and make light of it.  Still others are going to call you weird and say you're too soft.  Then, when the coast is clear, when all of the mockers are gone, someone from your circle will come forward and agree with what you said--and maybe tell a story or two of their own!  Even if revealing your good doesn't bring out the good in anyone else, it will certainly let YOU know who you're hanging out with!  And if you don't believe me...if you just can't understand where I'm coming from...

...dust off your old movie collection and re-watch Jason's Lyric.