Dishonoring the Prophet, Killing the Messenger, or Arguing with a Well-Meaning Friend or Family Member
“Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.’” — Mark 6:4 (NIV)
I’m not a prophet, but I completely understand. Prior to finding myself in Illinois, I worked with people that were trying to improve their physical fitness and their health. I learned a long time ago that there was little-to-nothing to be gained from framing one’s struggles with fitness or food as some kind of great moral flaw, a personal failing, or a disease.
However, I can’t always persuade someone to take a more balanced, reasonable approach to something that many others including myself have had to struggle with to reach our goals. For example, if someone wants to characterize their struggles with sweets and sugary foods as an addiction or a character flaw, I may not be able to dissuade them from doing so even if I know that it is likely to be counterproductive and likely to contribute to setbacks. Unfortunately, when it comes to people that know you personally and that know your qualifications and your experience, they may be more likely to resist you and fight with you than they would with a stranger with similar qualifications and experience. As the cliche suggests, familiarity may breed contempt… or at least a resistance to accepting the well-intentioned advice from someone in one’s own circle that might actually know better.
Yes, you can indeed find examples of people and organizations characterizing a craving to sugar as an “addiction”. But strictly speaking, that isn’t true. Anyway, below is a link to an article that explains why such a characterization might not be for the best. And while the inspiration for this post is a disagreement about how to characterize cravings for sweets and sugary foods, it can happen in regards to a variety of topics. Perhaps someday I will share the story about the time that a young pirate chose to disregard the advice of his electrician father and earned himself a shocking lesson about electricity and conductors.
“Is sugar addictive?”
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