Poor Hester Prynne.
Like most American high school students, I struggled through Hawthorne’s classic, trying to understand the complexities of humanity, handicapped by my mere 16 years of life experience. And only now, with over 40 additional years to my credit, some of it’s beginning to make a little more sense.
Hester’s community responds to her adultery by forcing her to wear a scarlet A as a badge of shame, a symbol of her sin.
I’ve been wondering how it would be for all of us to wear placards advertising our flaws and secret sins.
- E for Extortion. Taking advantage of anyone poorer or less powerful than ourselves.
- D for Dishonesty. Deliberately deceiving another person for our own gain.
- N for Neglect. Seeing hurt and needs in others and responding by looking the other way.
- C for Control. Using power (financial or physical) to control other people.
- G for Gluttony. Consuming more than our fair share of limited resources.
- M for Murder. Destroying the life or reputation of another person.
- T for Theft. Taking and/or possessing that which is not rightfully ours.
And, of course, A for Adultery. Unfaithfulness to one’s spouse in thought, word, or deed. (This is just a sampling. Feel free to add your own special sins. You know what they are.)
When I was just a child, someone explained to me that when you point your finger at another person, there are three fingers pointing back at yourself.
Recognizing our own sin increases our strength, our humility, and our empathy for others. A failure to recognize one’s own sin is living a lie.
Generally speaking, we’re far too busy shaking our heads and wagging our tongues over the sins of others. We convince ourselves that our sins are not nearly so egregious as are our neighbor’s.
And why do you behold the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but fail to consider the beam that is in your own eye? Or how will you say to your brother, Let me pull out the speck out of your eye; and, behold, a beam is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of your own eye; and then shall you see clearly to cast out the speck out of your brother’s eye.
© panthera2, 2012.