I have been mentally struggling with a what-to-do problem. "Jerry," a friendly acquaintance of mine, has co-opted a special symbol from the Fellowship of which I am, he is not, a member. Only one other member is aware that he is not a member of that Fellowship. He is now sharing as if he is a full-fledged member but does not specifically identify himself as such.
My quandary is threefold: The other member who knows of his deception seems to have no problem with it; I do not choose to be either a gossip or a do-gooder; finally, believing this to be detrimental first to my Fellowship and second to Jerry, is it mine to address?
I believe I got my Quiet Word this morning: Speak to Jerry with love...of him, not of what he is doing. Speak to him alone...bring in no known "heavy hitters" to back me up. He is not to be condemned but reminded that his membership and thus his actions need to be clarified. In short, he needs to come clean since his next step may be to act as a mentor for which he is supremely unqualified.
Ah, and here comes my egoic mind shouting her proverbial What if? In the end, what if what I say goes right by him...he shrugs and changes not?
All it takes for bad to win is for good to sit silently by. -- Edmund Burke, radically paraphrased
Immediately after writing, I opened Joel Goldsmith's "The World is New" at p. 69, and read: Ultimately, we shall realize that any and every obligation -- family or otherwise -- is not our personal responsibility, but that of the Christ ***. No demand will be a drain if we catch the central point that the demand is not being made upon us, but upon the Christ, and we shall look upon ourselves as instruments -- transfer agents-- through whom our family, friends, or relatives are supported.
Reasoning mind translation: Love and laugh and do the next right thing. If wrong, promptly admit it...and love and laugh.
Thank you.
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