Prey on the Weak

That term "Prey on the Weak" has been mulling around in my noggin for a few weeks now but haven't really felt like I had any way of articulating it. So I am just going to freestyle my thoughts and see what falls out ;)

It is something we have all done. If you act like you're above this, then you add being a liar to the mess. We ALL do it at some point in our lives. I remember in elementary being the "cool" kid in school. I was on my pedestal for quite some time. I was mean to the less fortunate. You know who they are, the nerds, weirdos, shy kids, unfashionable....you name it. If they were not in the elite six (myself included of course) they were treated with minimal tolerance and with the usual antics.

My glory days came to a screeching halt. The details are less important than the actual outcome. I became a nobody instantly. One day cool, the next day a major loser. I found myself befriending the nerds, weirdos, shy and unfashionable kids and guess what I found out?  There was depth to their personalities and compassion. There's nothing like suffering to produce compassion. I was forgiven and brought into the group. They were lovely.

Middle school was a strange one. I was on the inside circle again but I had changed. I no longer looked down on other people as before and I never attached myself to any group wholeheartedly. My husband claims I was really popular in high school but I never saw it that way. I never rejected others for not being in the "cool crowd." Now, that doesn't mean I didn't fall short at times or that I didn't give into peer pressure every now and again, but I KNEW what it was like to be a nobody and there were many times I would risk becoming it again simply by not excluding someone. I wouldn't join in some pointless assassination of some poor kid simply for my own pleasure.

What is this ugly thing that can rise up and hurl itself on the innocent? Why don't we pray for the weak rather than prey upon them? And so what if we are weak?! Isn't it in our weakness that God can be strong? Why are we so afraid to open ourselves up and be vulnerable? Maybe the question I should be asking is why don't we allow others to be vulnerable before us?

Oh and some of it is so subtle. We say things like "pray for so and so." We secretly realize the weakness and insecurity in someone else and revel in it and think ourselves so much better because we don't struggle like that. We have our poop in a group... yahoo! Look at me!!!! Oh if they only knew. Someone knows. Always and we can't run from Him.

But how about the other end of this spectrum? If you are the weak one and fall prey to such an onlooker don't you feel it? You know when your being sized up, examined, judged and looked down upon. How do you handle it. Are you bold and call them out? Are you gracious and just pray for them and love them, realizing that they have exposed their own weakness by behaving in such a way? Or do you pout and get wounded, paralyzed by the accusation because you know it's true (or fear it is?)

I've done them all and been it all. I really don't know the answer or think this rant will change the world but it has been enlightening. The question remains, am I the predator...or the prey.