I Told You So.

          Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: “How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you— when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. (Proverbs 1:20-27) 

“I told you so!”
          I’ve been told we should never say such a thing. We’re supposed to show compassion. Looking at today’s passage, it seems that wisdom starts with compassion, but after wisdom has been rejected repeatedly, what is left for wisdom to do but laugh when the predicted calamity strikes. Some may say that’s when wisdom needs to be compassionate, to step in and fix things that the simple and the mocker have destroyed, but have you noticed? The simple and the mocker don’t want help then, either, or they want help, but on their terms.
          I’ve noticed that when the United States tries to help another country, it’s nearly guaranteed that the helped country will hate the United States. That’s the way it seems to be on a personal level, too. I’m the same way. I want someone to come fix my problem, and then go away and leave me alone. That isn’t the way problems get fixed of course.
         The idea of showing compassion to the exclusion of wisdom (the way we tend to like it) is featured in discussions involving victims. We’re commanded by some, “Don’t blame the victim!” I’m not interested in blaming the victim, but can we discuss how people can avoid becoming a victim? Apparently not, because in discussing the avoidance of victimization, we suggest that there is something that the victim might have been able to do to avoid being victimized, which means we’re blaming the victim.
          I know someone who got out of a bad relationship with a married man and ended up in another bad relationship with a different married man. When I suggested that she make the firm, quality decision not to get involved with a married man, she was furious. How dare I blame her for her situation? The result is ultimately that we make victimization more likely, not less so.

 I have to admit, we all do this. I let things slide, and then have a mess to deal with. I’ve set myself up for trouble and whine when trouble knocks at the door. We all have areas in which we aren’t as wise as we should be. All the more reason to welcome our teachers and learn our lessons quickly when there’s a lesson to be learned.