Room 1501 is preparing to close down for the semester. I cannot believe how fast it has gone by. It seems like only yesterday that I walked into Room 1501 and met it’s students for the first time. This past week…inside Room 1501…has been pretty uneventful as we wrap up a great semester. My “having done in Room 1501” and lessons learned, came once again, outside of my room. I hope you enjoy the rest of this read…
I didn’t take the time to look up who originally said it, but it has been said… “YOU CAN’T REALLY UNDERSTAND ANOTHER PERSON’S EXPERIENCE UNTIL YOU’VE WALKED A MILE IN THEIR SHOES.”
I personally think that every American should have to do a job swap for a two week period, once a year. The entire USA workforce should have to do this. For example…I think every American should have to be a teacher for 2 weeks. It would be transformational. On the TV show called Family Feud, 100 people were asked to rate between a 1 and 10 if they felt they could do their boss’s job better than he/she could. A majority of the people polled answered with a 10. Meaning…nearly everybody thinks they can do their boss’s job better.
Not only am I professionally teaching for the first time ever, I am also taking on Basketball coaching for the first time ever. I have always played basketball, and I like to think I was pretty good at it. It’s been 18 years since I played basketball for Manhattan Christian College, where I earned the National Bible College Athletic Association Division I All American Award. Since then I have been in the stands cheering on my kids and yelling at referees and thinking ridiculous thoughts about the coach’s abilities, decisions, and plays. I have been a critic. I have thought many times that I would be a way better coach than “that guy coaching that team.”
And…now I’m coaching. I’m walking in a coach’s shoes…for more than a mile! Already…just the other day…as I’m sitting on the bench and the team is out warming up for the game about to start… I had a parent walk up behind me and say, “That is not a very intimidating warm up routine for our basketball team.” Frankly…it ticked me off. Then I remembered how critical I could be from the stands. It actually made me laugh. I deserved this comment from the parent. “What goes around, comes around.” But…here’s the truth…
It is so easy to be a critic.
It is so easy to watch the slow motion replay for your favorite NFL team and yell at the coach about how stupid that play call was, or how the running back should have cut right, not left.
It is so easy to criticize the Sunday preacher for his misquote of a passage.
It is so easy to think you can do it better.
I really wish…now that I’m a coach and a teacher…when I was being critical…that someone would have had the courage to say, “Shut up Renner…if you think you can do it better, then get your butt out there and do it.”
I love the quote from Theodore Roosevelt about Critics… 
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
You and I need to fully acknowledge that ^T.R.^ was right and still is right.
What have you been criticizing? Here’s my advice to you. It is spoken with loving boldness…
“Shut thy mouth!” 🙂 “Being a critic is easy. If you think you can do it better, then get out there and go for it.”
I love the example of Jesus. When we…His prized creation…messed up and sinned…He didn’t complain and criticize. He took on our skin. He became one of us. He didn’t just walk a mile in our shoes, He put on our shoes and wore them for 33 years….and He did it perfectly. He put on our shoes and wore them way better than we ever could. And still, He is not a critic. He is love.
I pray we will not criticize others………ever again. That will be difficult, but possible.
What good does criticism do? Does it accomplish anything…I mean…other than make us look like a jerk?
Let’s end with a great Bible passage to put us all in our place and direct us to become the kind of people we really want to be.
“3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.”
Philippians 2:3-8
My first semester as a teacher, and now, as a coach at Joy Christian School has taught me a lot. I can now say, after walking a mile in the shoes of a teacher and coach, how arrogant I must have sounded when I criticized the teachers and coaches of my past. Oh…I didn’t criticize so much publicly to other people, but for sure God heard it. I wonder what my words and heart made Him think?
I will try to do all I can to zip my lips when they try to get critical. It will be a challenge.
If, after reading this post, you have been convicted about being critical towards anybody or any profession, I hope you will have the courage to at least volunteer in that area and see for yourself that it is not as easy as you think.
It will be an adventure that will humble you and make you a better person.
Thanks for reading this…I’m honored by you taking the time to do so, and for not criticizing this blog post. 🙂
Trent