I suppose there could be considerable debate on who the most dangerous person in the world is. Some might say Kim Jong Il in North Korea, or the president or Iran, or Osama Bin Laden. Other folks might even say that George Bush is the most dangerous person in the world. After all, he has a millitary that has a budget larger than most nation's GDP at his disposal.
I would like you to think a little differently though. I think the most dangerous person, in a more theoretical sense, is a person that you see every day. The most dangerous person in the world is a person who thinks that they are a victim.
Now by saying this I am not trying to demean anyone's personal hardship. There are a lot of people who are victimized by others, and they are not to be blamed for being victimized. But to see oneself as a victim and to live out of the attitude that one is a victim of an institution, or of a situation, or even of God is never a good thing. It hurts the person who has been hurt to remain a victim. Even more so, living with a self-identity as a victim almost always leads to one victimizing others.
Let me explain with a rather tame example. Lets say that I am a victim of a bad boss that does not pay me enough or appreciate me enough. Lets say that I internalize that I am a victim of this bad boss. What happens next? I justify not working as hard for this boss, because I am not getting paid enough. I am rude to the other people I work with because I deserve to be rude and surly to people since I am being victimized.
Or on a grander scale, someone like Stalin, Hitler, or Kim Jong Il (and some may even say Bush, although I would not) can justify and rally a lot of people to their causes by convincing them that they are victims. Victims of being overtaxed (Hitler), victims of terrorists (Bush), victims of other more powerful military powers (Stalin and KJI). Once you convince yourself you are a victim, you free yourself to do all sorts of things to rectify that evil that is being put upon you.
And if you think you are a victim of God or fate or society, then everyone in the world is fair game for your revenge. You can open fire in school cafeterias, or you can sit on your butt and live on "the dole" because the government needs to compensate you for your hardship.
The most dangerous person in the world is the person that sees themself as a victim.
6 comments:
loving Apologetics. More soon.
My husband figured out that he was holding a grudge against God. He'd been angry ...holding himself as a victim ... he repented ...in one instant our marriage went from one that was terrible and abusive ..to an example of a good marriage, Godly and restored, healed and what God intended for marriage to be. After 18 years ...
This reminds me of "V for Vendetta". What a fantastic movie!
What pray-tell, brought this?
This is an interesting topic. Me being a victim of something when I was 17 changed my life, but it hasn't ruled my life. I don't blame anyone except the person who did it and I certainly don't blame God.
Yes, what brought on this topic? Did something happen that made you think of this?
Also, *sad* I noticed I'm not on your blog roll anymore. I'm sorry if I made you mad.
It's true, you can't live as a victim. I don't know if I would say that person would be the most dangerous in the world, but it is a crappy way to live.
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