The World of Idiots

When I was a child I was never allowed to call anyone an idiot. Webster says the word means a “mentally deficient person who is permanently incapable of rational conduct or a very stupid person.” It seems to me there are a growing number of such people. In fact a couple of years ago I was involved in an incident that convinced me the world is full of them.

I was on an entrance ramp coming onto an eight lane highway. As I neared the top, the traffic came to a complete stop. I waited and nothing happened. Soon I heard a police car roaring down the shoulder of the highway, turned onto the left lane and came to a stop behind a cranberry colored Ford Explorer. And there I waited for many minutes as the car refused to move and the police lights kept flashing.

“Idiot”, I said under my breath. This guy would not budge even though those lights kept going. I waited a bit longer growing more and more frustrated with this guy in the Explorer reviewing in my mind the sin of man and how this guy was the worst of the worst. He had no compassion. Perhaps there were people lying wounded and dying in the road just ahead desperately needing an officer and yet Mr. Explorer refused to move his car.

I was ready to jump out and drag him out of his car myself, so enraged at the gall, the inconsiderateness, the unwillingness to consider there was a CRISIS up ahead, when all of a sudden I heard the policeman take serious steps to get him to move.

A loudspeaker bellowed. “Please move to the right!” “There…that should get him!” I thought, but still he didn’t budge. Again the loudspeaker came on, with greater firmness and urgency. “Please move to the right! Please move your car to the right!!” Everyone within hearing distance would have moved to the right but our IDIOT would not!

“Please move your Four Runner to the right!” The voice came again. I thought the policeman must not know his cars very well because THAT car was an Explorer.

Again, and this time the color of the car was added to the command. “PLEASE MOVE YOUR TAN FOUR RUNNER TO THE RIGHT!!!!” Tan Forerunner? The idiot was driving a cranberry Explorer. How could the police make such a horrible mistake. And then I glanced in the rear view mirror only to see an ambulance right behind me and my tan Four Runner directing ME to MOVE my car to the right!!!

As it turns out, there was only ONE idiot on the scene and that was me. The police was stopped behind the guy in the Explorer because that car and several others had been involved in an accident. I was the person incapable of rational behavior .

I moved my car to the right.

And I looked in the mirror. And there I saw a profound truth.

Do not judge others who might have a splinter in their eye until you have taken the huge jumbo log out of your own eye. Those words are Jesus’ idea because He created us and knows full well that at any given moment we are all capable of being idiots… totally incapable of rational thought