Kids Can Be Cruel

Kids are cruel. Stan Guthrie tells of his experience writing for this month’s Christianity Today magazine. He has a moderate case of cerebral palsy that causes an erratic gait. Stan relates how his eight-year-old son gets angry with peers who make fun of his daddy’s walk.

Stan writes: “Would I be happier without this physical disability? That’s like asking a kid if he would like to ride a bike, play Little League baseball, or be on the swim team – all activities that I was denied while growing up in an otherwise active family. The answer is obvious. But there’s a deeper question that our happinesss pursing society too often over looks. Would I be better off?

“I’d like to think that the disabled soften the sharp edges of society, teach us kindness and humility, force us to look upward, and pull us away – if only temporarily-from our besetting narcissim. I believe my kids are learning tolerance and mercy, not because of anything I say or do, but merely through my unsteady presence.

“I worry about our society’s desire to engineer trials out of existence. Sometimes, even we who decry the health and wealth gospel forget that the Chrsitian life was never meant to be a cakewalk, that discipleship requires suffering, and that spiritual victory presupposes struggle.

Stan wraps up his inspiring article with, “Only through suffering, disappointment, and death – and rude remarks of children – are we weaned from the love of this world. There’s more to life than happiness.”