beer and balance

When I was in Seattle today, I gave a guy money for beer. This is probably not what Jesus meant when he said to give the thirsty something to drink. But, you never know. The most interesting part of the exchange for me was as I was walking off, the guy asked me, "Am I bad?"

I wasn't really sure what to say, so I said, "What do you think?"

He thought for a few moments then said, "I'm bad, but I'm really good at it."

Then he said something about how he should be a used car salesman. Reflecting on my experience, I don't think I would give someone on the streets money for beer again if they asked me. If I had an alcoholic friend, I wouldn't support their addiction by giving them money for beer. I don't see why it's loving to do that for a stranger. At the same time, a part of me doesn't mind giving someone money for beer when they might be miserable. I really don't know much about the guy, I don't know if he's homeless or a drunk or what, those are just assumptions.

I tend towards balance and creating balance. If I sense extremism, I want to balance it out. Seeing things from multiple angles. I don't enjoy feeling like an extremist. When I think 'extremist', I think 'misinformed'. Not completely wrong, just not seeing the full picture. I don't like unfair treatment and description. This probably changes how I talk to people. If I sense their disapproval of something, I will probably try to either talk about parts of it that they will approve of or balance out their view by clarifying things that I think they don't understand. It can be hard for to talk about things when I know someone will disapprove. It's not even thinking that I'm wrong that's hard to deal with, it's more like thinking that I'm wrong and disapproving of me. I don't like that I do that. Fear = lame.

Most things aren't as completely good or as completely evil as people make them out to be. Most things aren't as completely anything as people make them out to be.