Empathy

Me, Me, Me, Me, Me!

The closedness of Me-First people

Do you know any Me-First people? You know, that person where everything is ALWAYS about them. Cue Toby Keith, “Want to talk about me.”

I’m thinking of a person I know. I wouldn’t call him a friend… more like an acquaintance. Years ago, my wife and I ran into him at a store.

The conversation went something like this… Tim: Hey, how are you doing? It’s been a while.

Him: Hi guys! Well, I’ve been up to this and this and this. And I, I, I, I, I, I, I.

Tim: That’s great. Well, gotta go. Bye.

He was focused on himself! It was like my wife and I weren’t there. He didn’t ask how we were doing, but went right into talking about himself.

I’ve never heard so many personal pronouns used in 30 seconds. We couldn’t wait to get away from him.

If you Google the phrase, “is I a personal pronoun?” you’ll get this result.

Personal pronouns are the stunt doubles of grammar; they stand in for the people (and perhaps animals) who star in our sentences.

Me-First people want to be the star in their sentences.

Me-First people don’t hold space for anyone else.

Me-First people don’t have time to show empathy.

Me-First people might as well have closed signs on their foreheads.

Consider this verse…

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; ~Philippians 2:3

Does that mean you exclude your own interests? No! Look at the next verse.

do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. ~Philippians 2:3–4

Here’s the idea. Instead of Me-First, think me-second or better yet, me-last. Consider, regard, value, and count others more important than you.

It begins with humility. Because a humble person is more likely to think of others first.

Does this mean you always think of others over yourself? No! If you don’t show yourself grace and gift yourself some me-time, you’ll burn yourself out and won’t good to anyone. It’s a balance.

The point is this. Give more than you take. I believe if you do, you’ll actually end up getting much more in return.

So ask yourself. Who would you rather be around? A Me-First person or a me-second person? Kind of a no-brainer, isn’t it?

Daily Doable: “with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; “ Foremost, be a me-second person. The world needs more people like this. #DoWhatYouCanNow

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This Inspire Point was brought to you by your neighbor Tim Maudlin.

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