Me, Myself and I

Randy E. Williams

There was six years between me and my sister, she being the elder. For a little boy it’s challenging enough simply having a sister, but an older one had its special challenges. (She reminded me several times in a day)

While we had more than our share of sibling rivalry, I’m happy to say that we outgrew it and today she’s a great friend. Back then was a different story. The only real concern I can ever remember seeing on her face for me was when blood started flowing. I’m still not sure if it was concern for me, or her because of what she was going to get for hurting me.
We were unified on one point. "Take your brother with you,"we words we’d rebel on. You couldn’t really say that we looked out for each other. No, siree our philosophy was, "Me, Myself and I."

It’s not really different from our society’s philosophy either. A few months ago a friend of mine was riding the Metro into Washington DC with her daughter. She couldn’t really see the map hanging on the exterior wall that well so she leaned forward to see which stop was theirs. Still having trouble reading it she got up out of her aisle seat but as she got up, another lady about her age slide into the her vacated seat and sat next to my friend’s daughter.

The lady turned around and said, "Excuse me I was sitting there with my daughter. I only moved so I could see the map." The seat thief looked her straight in the eyes and said, "Too bad," and turned away. "Me, Myself and I" is very prevalent in the adult world too.

In the New Testament there is a verse in Philippians that says, "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." (2:4) There are a couple of things implied there: 1. Look out for yourself. 2. Don’t be so selfish. Others are as important as you are.
When we apply this principle to reconciliation, we will quickly see that we when seeking to negotiate we need to seek for mutually beneficial situations. This is most easily done when we adopted the attitude of Philippians 2:4