My Little Devotional: "Make Yourself Useful"

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Dragon Dropped”

Over the past nine seasons, it would probably be a fair assessment to say that Rarity either took her relationship with Spike for granted at best or, at worst, downright abused it. She was accustomed to the dragon regularly volunteering his time and effort due to his infatuation with her, and, while she had made it clear in the past she valued him as a friend, her own nature that led her to the occasional self-centered or stuck-up mindset meant she would occasionally exploit this for her own gain. If nothing else, by that point in the series she was used to always having Spike as a go-to assistant during her own outings.

So when Gabby Griffon formed a relationship with him and she found herself suddenly needing to “share” her time with another, it came as a rather surprising change. Her reaction to that change, however, was what was truly troubling about this episode. She ended up taking up Spike’s time by having him come with her on his favorite activities…not simply as a way of getting him to spend more time with her but to purposely create a strain on his relationship with Gabby. When it eventually led to a breakup and a falling out, she initially only thought about how this meant she again had Spike all to herself. It wasn’t until some time had passed that she finally realized she had hurt him emotionally (and began to finally stop thinking of her own welfare and consider what she had done to him as a friend) before she finally made the right choice and confessed everything to get them back together.

Humans were created to be social creatures. As a result, we need each other not only to allow society to function and to survive from day to day, but to be healthy and well-adjusted.

“Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

“As iron sharpens iron,
so one person sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17)

Yet as a rather ironic twist, we are so used to dealing with so many people as part of normal day-to-day life that one of the greatest dangers we have to be on guard for is growing so accustomed to treating individuals as things rather than as thinking, feeling creatures.

Consider an aggressive, angry driver who thinks only about getting themselves to their destination. They end up dangerously speeding and weaving through traffic to worm their way through others on the road. This obviously puts not only them in danger but the other drivers as well, but that doesn’t matter to the aggressive driver. To them, these people are all too slow and are merely roadblocks that keep them from getting to what they want.

Or consider the classic example of what modern society calls the “Karen”: a person at a store who ends up mildly inconvenienced, often through their own negligence and error, but expects the world to bend over backward to accommodate them. They treat innocent cashiers and retail workers as human garbage; hurling the nastiest and cruelest insults simply because they can’t get their way. They have no concern with what the rules are or what people are allowed to do or not do—they only want to manipulate them by throwing an angry fit until they get what they want, and care nothing for their feelings in the meantime. The workers aren’t people to them…simply things standing between them and what they want.

The temptation is particularly strong when people move into positions of leadership. At that point, bosses, leaders, or directors have to, in one way or another, start considering people as resources. And when that happens, making the jump to using them as tools isn’t far off. I’ve seen it in my own job. When a worker is willing to take the extra step to do a little more to make sure a task gets done, it isn’t long before someone starts exploiting this to give themselves an easier time. Eventually, they start expecting it out of that worker. And in the worst case with some bosses, they end up thinking these extra tasks are something the worker must start doing as part of their normal job and deserve no extra credit or praise for it. Needless to say, when an employer starts treating their employees simply as objects to give them what they want that can be abused like machines, it isn’t long before those employees start getting resentful and start giving only the bare minimum necessary…or simply search for greener pastures.

Yet I think we can all agree that what Rarity did in this episode was an example of the lowest of the low when it comes to this behavior. Namely, reaching the point of seeing people as objects for our personal satisfaction so much that we actually go about sabotaging them and their relationships so we can get what we want. This is two sins rolled into one: an act of extreme selfishness and greed combined with betrayal of a friend. Arguably, this was the greatest sin recorded in the whole of the Bible other than Adam’s original sin. Judas was one of the twelve Apostles, one who had a personal front-row seat to the teachings and miracles of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And he ended up betraying Him to His death to get a bit of money.

If one of Jesus’ most personal and intimate followers nevertheless succumbed to the temptation to betray Him for personal gain, then how much more are we susceptible to the same weakness?

In our modern world, we’re more connected than ever and, I feel, more capable then ever of being exposed to people for the purpose of developing empathy for others. Yet we must still constantly be on guard because we’re also constantly being bombarded by varying messages and perspectives—many of which are trying to use us or manipulate us. They want us to see people who disagree with us or have their own concerns and problem not as individuals to be reasoned with or work through issues together with, but as hostile obstacles who want nothing but to ruin us for their own benefit…and so therefore we should do the same to them. We in the Western World are in a society that emphasizes so much time running around taking care of ourselves and giving ourselves comfort and pleasure that we can start to see anything that gets in the way of that as an unwelcome nuisance. Modern media often highlights or even glorifies and celebrates fictional individuals who are able to masterfully use and manipulate others to get whatever they want in life by “freeing themselves” from having regards for them as people. Combined with the fact that others will inevitably use and wrong us and we will want revenge, we need constant vigilance and to take an active stand against having our mindset horribly skewed.

I’ve met a lot of people in my life…some of the best people in my life, in fact…who seem to naturally have empathy, concern, and sympathy for others. For many of us, however, we may have grown up in such a way or be so accustomed to being wrapped up in ourselves and our own heads that we don’t know how. In that case it’s important to try and develop those qualities. My prayer for today is that we all take a moment to do something to combat the temptation to become so self-centered that we no longer care for anyone else beyond what they do for us. Perhaps consider donating a little time or money to someone else. Or jump online and, instead of looking for ideas to criticize or complain, look for a few posts or replies and simply thank someone for their input. Consider something that we can say that’s nice or congratulatory to someone who frequently goes out of their way to help us. Or do something to make someone’s day who works in retail. We might end up doing more good than just for ourselves.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for all the people you have put in my life who put aside their own worries, concerns, cares, and problems to take time out to be receptive to me; or for those who treated me as a thinking, feeling individual when I was at my lowest and most unloved. As you see all people as individually valuable and precious in your eyes, help me to see people in the same way. In the words of St. Francis of Assisi, ‘grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.’ Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”