Crap Will Always Be Crap

Marcus: Mr. Nathan, staff told me they called you on your cell phone and you told them to put me on assault watch.

Me: Yep. That’s true, Marcus. Can you tell me why I put you on assault watch?

Marcus: Staff said it was because of ‘assault with body fluids’ or something like that. But Mr. Nathan, I didn’t do anything!

Me: Assault with bodily fluids. You’re right, Marcus. That is why. I’m curious about how you’re going to explain to me that you ‘didn’t do anything.’

Marcus: Well, I plugged up the toilet in room 2 and all the kids are saying I made it smell like crap and now it won’t flush. Staff called to borrow a plunger from another cabin, but I got tired of waiting, and everyone just kept making fun of me because I made the room smell like crap.

Me: Okay, then what happened?

Marcus: Well, the trash can in our room was empty so I took out the bag and put my hand in it and used it like a glove to pull out the crap plugging the toilet.

Me: And then? (face straining to not show disgust or twisted humor)

Marcus: I turned the trash bag inside out, so the clean side was out, then I tied the bag up and threw it away.

Me: Marcus, I have incident reports saying you were swinging the bag around at your peers, instigating them. Let me read this to you, “… and then Marcus started flinging crap at me.”

Marcus: That’s not true! He’s lying because he doesn’t like me.

Me: Okay, Marcus. Listen, if you’re saying that your peers and all your staff are misleading me about this, I can place a request to review camera footage, but . . .

Marcus: Okay, Mr. Nathan (big sigh). I didn’t ‘fling crap’ like it says in that dumb, lying report that jerk wrote. I was just swinging the bag around.

Me: A bag of crap?

Marcus: But it was in a bag!

This is just one of those conversations I can't forget. So, what makes me blog about it suddenly, years after having it?

Well, I have to admit, from time to time, I do a bit of ‘crap flinging’ myself. You see, I might disguise it as a conviction to share the truth and to be honest, or as a distaste for an injustice that I feel must be confronted, when in reality I’m just angry or hurt and looking for a reason to fling crap; to get a little dig in and look all the more Christian while doing so.

Sometimes, certain things must be said; some things should be brought to light, but unless I’m doing or saying these things completely from a heart of love, a heart for Christ, then I’m not the person for the job. We can package crap anyway we want to. We can wrap it in paper and put a bow on top, we can fling it around in a garbage bag, or we can dish it out for what it really is, but crap will always be crap.

Lord God, help the mediation of my heart be pleasing to You. Humble me to serve You only, so that it is Your will I seek and not my own. Be my motivation in all I do.