Why Can't We All Get Along? Rodney King

Tigers can also fight!

Conflict and broken relationships are some of the most bedeviling issues that face pastors and Christian leaders. For many years I operated like a bull in a china shop and told people exactly what I thought. I fully expected them to agree with me and do what I told them was wise. How could I have been so wrong? It took my Post Doctoral work in human relationships along with a dissertation on scripture and relationships to show me how wrong I was.

I learned how differently people see the same events. It is still a shock that my wife of 50+ years does not really understand what I am saying. I am so clear tit amazes me when she misunderstands.  Then I remember the elephant.

It was six men of Indostan

To learning much inclined, Who went to see the Elephant

(Though all of them were blind), That each by observation, Might satisfy his mind

The First approached the Elephant,

And happening to fall

Against his broad and sturdy side,

At once began to bawl:

“God bless me! but the Elephant

Is very like a wall!”

The Second, feeling of the tusk,

Cried, “Ho! what have we here

So very round and smooth and sharp?

To me ’tis mighty clear

This wonder of an Elephant

Is very like a spear!”

The Third approached the animal,

And happening to take

The squirming trunk within his hands,

Thus boldly up and spake:

“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant

Is very like a snake!”

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,

And felt about the knee.

“What most this wondrous beast is like

Is mighty plain,” quoth he;

“ ‘Tis clear enough the Elephant

Is very like a tree!”

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,

Said: “E’en the blindest man

Can tell what this resembles most;

Deny the fact who can

This marvel of an Elephant

Is very like a fan!”

The Sixth no sooner had begun

About the beast to grope,

Than, seizing on the swinging tail

That fell within his scope,

“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant

Is very like a rope!”

And so these men of Indostan

Disputed loud and long,

Each in his own opinion

Exceeding stiff and strong,

Though each was partly in the right,

And all were in the wrong!

Moral:  So oft in theologic wars,

The disputants, I ween,

Rail on in utter ignorance

Of what each other mean,

And prate about an Elephant

Not one of them has seen!

John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887) based on a fable that was told in India

What do you see when you look at different people?