And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Jesus in Matthew 5:22
“Foolishness” comes in many sizes, shapes and colors…
Chris Guillebeau took ten years to accomplish the foolish quest of visiting every nation on earth…
Felix Baumgartner rides a capsule strapped to a balloon to the edge of space and then, foolishly, jumps…
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone (aka, Saint Francis of Assisi) strips in the public square and renounces the “worldly life”…
Ernesto “Che” Guevara joins a misfit band of Cuban revolutionaries under the leadership of Fidel Castro, taking off in a leaky boat from Mexico, bound for Cuba with the foolish idea of taking control of the island from a ruthless, U.S. backed, dictator…
Christopher Johnson McCandless donates all the money saved for law school, burns the cash left in his pocket, and sets off with a backpack for the Alaskan wilderness to “find himself”…
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the U.S., makes a foolish vow on behalf of a nation of “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth by the end of the decade.”
It’s easy to call someone who is doing something you don’t agree with, or you don’t understand, a fool.
From the perspective of the audience, the onlookers, the “peanut gallery”, that’s exactly how you might appear…
foolish.
Maybe that’s the reason for Jesus’ strong admonishment against calling someone a fool.
It’s of course foolish, in the eyes of the world, for one person to think him or herself capable of greatness.
For some reason, perhaps some evil reason, the consensus will always be against such notions.
“Who are you to think…!” is usually what you’ll get if you divulge your dreams of divine inspiration.
But those who achieve noteworthy things, remarkable things, are people who plunged ahead in spite of being called a fool.
In fact, they were perhaps delighted to be so called.
Anyone who ever thought themselves capable of spilling ideas onto paper that might one day inspire a generation is certainly at first a fool…
and then later, a Pulitzer prize winner and legend of literary exploit.
But no one ever accomplished such feats without initially exposing themselves to being ridiculed as a fool.
Think about it.
Don’t be afraid of being a fool, or being called a fool.
Cherish it and act accordingly.
Sometimes, often times, it’s the foolish things that bring meaning to a seemingly meaningless life.
Suffering fools gladly is a great lesson in humility and patience…
But suffering gladly as a fool is a requirement for many impact-full endeavors.
image credit: cogdogblog via Compfight cc
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