How to Be a Decent Human When Someone Is Not Decent to You With Dr. Joseph Ciarrochi

You came up with this idea of talking about basically how to be a decent human to stay honest and kind in the face of someone not being decent to you.

And that can show up on the basketball court or it can show up in the workplace or it can show up in your family.

Yeah, for years.

I don't know.

Can we talk about Christian images and metaphors? Are we? Yeah.

I grew up as a Christian Baptist.

But I really didn't have a good family.

My dad was a dickhead and is a dickhead still probably.

And it was really harsh.

And so I thought I was treated badly.

And the image of Christ, when I was in my Christian training, did not appeal to me because it felt like he was being passive and just a victim.

And that all, he was taking on the guilt of all humanity.

And it felt like a kind of victim.

And I was trying to escape that victimhood.

I was trying to become a agent for my future and to be active and not be passive like somebody up on a cross.

So the reason I mentioned that is because I've really changed my understanding of that story, that Christ story.

from looking like a victim, looking like weakness.

And that's often the way that's characterized.

This kind of compassion is weakness.

Empathy is weakness.

These are political talking points now.

Any kind of consideration of how we treat these immigrants or these others is weakness if you're not harsh.

And I was convinced that was strength for a long time, but I think I've come around now to understanding what that image of Christ means for me.

It is that he fully knew people, like their sin, the fact that he'd been betrayed.

He knew.