Whatever...

I'm sure you've heard it somewhere. A conversation, one participant beginning to get a bit irritated with the other, and instead of continuing on and working to understand and communicate, he utters a simple, 'Whatever.'

This word, which started its humble life as a relative pronoun and adjective, has grown to carry much more weight.

It has become the trendy way to dismiss someone, to tell him he's not worth the time and energy to listen to, his existence is not worthy of recognition. It is used to communicate disdain, derision, and disrespect. It shuts people down and lets them know of their unimportance and lack of influence in the life of whomever utters it. "Whatever you say, it won't affect me."

Even when we don't utter the word, we can still communicate the attitude. We roll our eyes, lift an eyebrow, shrug our shoulders, and sigh or click our tongue at the stupidity of this neanderthal standing before us who understands nothing. We think that our own opinions are so important and others' are dismissible. I'm guilty of this (the subtle patronizing attitude, even though I've avoided saying 'whatever'; not that that mitigates my own culpability). When someone recently dismissed me with a 'whatever', it hit me like a brick in the face.

The Lord shows me his mercy as he continues to show me this attitude, but I'm saddened once again by my pride. For the sake of Christ and his sacrifice on the cross, my heavenly Father loves me as I am, but he loves me too much to leave me as I am. Praise his holy and gracious name!

SDG