This isn’t how Christians are meant to deal with problems.
It’s not easy to tell this story without dropping names or hints, but I’m gonna give it a shot.
Two guys, roommates, are not getting along. The solution, they figured, was for one of them to exchange rooms with another person. Sound reasonable?
Except that some buttinsky figures the wrong roommate is exchanging rooms, and has drafted a petition—which he asked me to sign—to express this to our Resident Director.
He picked the wrong guy. Last time I encountered such a petition, it was meant to get me fired.
I’m not a big fan of the “strength in numbers” mentality; it got my Rabbi killed. Besides, there were a lot of steps bypassed in order to put together this petition. Most places actually have a procedure to address grievances; Jesus even has one. First you go to the person; then you go to the RA, then the RD, and only after that point would I feel comfortable signing any such petition.
But people don’t want procedure; they want quick, ego-shattering, relationship-damaging results. Really, they want vengeance, and nothing provides a better passive-agressive assault than a big list of names telling someone to go f--- himself. Unfortunately, the typical response to an assault is either a savage fight or a bitter surrender. (My response to the petition against me? Fortunately, I and my bosses were mature enough to handle it properly. I let God—and my bosses—deal with it, and kept my job.)
I shouldn’t get so annoyed at immaturity. I’ve encountered enough of it; you’d think I’d be anesthetized to it by now.
