I Thought I Was Being Friendly:

Straight AheadI thought I was being friendly for all those years when I made casual conversation with people by asking the most obvious questions such as: What kind of work do you do? How many kids do you have? Where do you live? According to the new interpretation of social grace being promoted by some, these questions are not as friendly as I thought. According to these advocates of a new kind of "social political correctness," these questions should not be asked. By asking these types of questions, say some egalitarians, we are only attempting to label people more conveniently. By this cynical reckoning, we really don't care about the people, but are only interested in defining them by our own standards of snobbery so that we can feel intellectually or socially superior. As a pastor, I always ask the typical questions so that I can get to know people--whether they are church members or just casual acquaintances. After all, we are defined in many ways. We are defined in superficial ways such as our appearance, our physical handicaps or lack thereof, and our education and social background. We are also defined by our job, our family life, even by where we live. Those who detest asking the obvious questions say that these factors are not the important aspects of a person. Rather, they say, we should be interested in what a person thinks and how a person feels. We should be interested in these things, of course; but does it not say a lot about a person when we find out what they do for a living, where they come from, how they got there. Vocation should be an important consideration for any Christian. And after all, vocation is a matter of choice--at least, in the United States. None of us are appointed to our present job by a government agency! We should not be ashamed of who we are, where we work, how we got to the place we are today. They're a part of us. I don't think one occupation or vocation is intrinsically more worthy than any other; and if I don't ask the obvious questions, how will I ever know the obvious facts that are part of a person's everyday life? Maybe those who wish to be "socially politically correct" should get a life, and get real!