(Guest Editorial by Brother Ritechus N. Dignation)

I’m fired up…..again. There’s some things in life I can do without: a car wreck, the measles, rap music, and rude people. I want to focus on that last one, rude people. Rudeness has almost become a badge of honor in society. Sometimes I wonder if some folks don’t try to be as rude as possible. There ain’t never no reason for being rude, ugly or condeeesending to others. We are all created in God’s image. Why I’ve been around some people, Christians at that, who treated me like a piano at a Cambellite convention (for you young’uns, a Cambellite is a member of the Church of Christ).

Now let’s talk about preachers. Why not, ever’body does every Sunday after church at the dinner table. Let’s just make it official. I remember one particular preacher who left a mark on me early in my ministry. I ran into a preacher brother in town who was having lunch with a man I’ll call Brother Rude. As I talked with my friend, he introduced me to this other brother. The guy didn’t speak to me or acknowledge that I was even standing there. He just gave me a look and kept eating. I spoke directly to him and forced him to look at me again, but he never uttered a syllable. He just kept chowing down. Not only was he rude to me, he could have used some table manners on how to act at the trough. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt and just figured maybe I wasn’t a big enough fish in the ‘So sa shun for him to swim with. I always wondered if he treated his sheep this way.

Then there’s the folks who are paid to be nice to you, but treat you like last months buttermilk. Clerks, tellers, cashiers, waiters and waitresses and others, all come under this category. I was once served a sandwich at a café that had a chunk of mold on the bun as big as a three inch flat washer, plus, the meat was cold as a two day old tater. I called the waitress over, showed her the excuse for a sandwich and asked for another. She took it back, returned with another and doggone if it didn’t have some mold on it. When I called her back, she looked at me, snatched the sandwich , brought me a third one and began to walk away. I stopped her and said, “Hold on. Aren’t you even going to say you’re sorry?” She never did.

I have to remind myself of my Christian duty to these folks. It’s called forbearance. As I said at the beginning, there’s never a call to be rude to anyone, even when they’ve been ugly to you. If that person is lost, then we need to be an example. If they claim to be saved, well, one of us ought to act like a Christian.

Joseph Harris, has been a college professor and pastor since 1987 and his writings have appeared on Mississippi Baptist, WND, Sword of the Lord, Intellectual Conservative, Conservative Daily News, Canada Free Press, Land of the Free, News America Daily, and the European Union Times.