On doormats

Yesterday, I heard a word in the homily that sounds so familiar to what I expressed previously. I told the priest today, “Hey, you know your homily yesterday during sunset mass? The doormat part is exactly what I felt and had blogged about it. You didn’t steal my content, did you?” Jokingly, I asked him, of course.

Anyway, just to recollect, I did use the doormat term over here in my post where I heaped praises on Penang CM Lim Guan Eng.

The above quotes from him sort of seal my belief that we shouldn’t just keep turning the other cheek or be the meek lambs all the time. Many Christians have that attitude of following the ‘turning the other cheek’ mantra and insist that one has to be meek to get things done because that’s what Jesus did. The only result is a lot of doormats – weakened, trampled and ineffective. Bwahaha.

Then, there was another occasion where this person wrote to The Herald and questioned why we wanted to fight in court over the use of the hotly debated issue. This person asked why don’t we just find other things to use, why not turn the other cheek? Again, I posted about Jesus the person, whom may be meek and gentle but He certainly did not let people stepped all over Him. Even as a boy, He has the guts to do something His earthly parents didn’t expect and he stayed behind at the temple while they were on their way home. He went against the crowd and had meals with Zacchaeus, while people are gossiping behind. He overturned His Father’s temple and called those people thieves. So, to me, all these are being assertive, standing up for the truth. I also wrote about Jesus being a frustrating guy to talk to.

So, yeah, we must never be doormats. Whether Christians or not, we should never allow ourselves to be unhappy by always allowing people to take us for granted. In my personal life, I know when to put my foot down when I feel I had been taken for granted by the spouse as well. Don’t ever wait till the shit hits the fan or you had lost your own individuality before you come to realise that being doormats are bad ideas. Of course, do not be the stumbling block too.

As reminder, Father Fab said in his homily, “The hallmark of being a Christian is to be gentle and humble.” Being assertive, not aggresive.

And the Gospel, taken from the Al-Kitab :

Beberapa orang membawa kanak-kanak kepada Yesus supaya Yesus meletakkan tangan-Nya pada kanak-kanak itu dan memberkati mereka. Tetapi pengikut-Nya memarahi mereka. Ketika Yesus nampak hal ini, Dia marah lalu berkata kepada pengikut-pengikut-Nya, “Biarlah kanak-kanak itu datang kepada-Ku. Jangan larang mereka, kerana orang seperti inilah yang menikmati Pemerintahan Allah. Ingatlah! Orang yang tidak menyambut Pemerintahan Allah seperti kanak-kanak, tidak dapat menikmati Pemerintahan Allah.” (Markus 10:13-15)