Day 24: Am I a Bad Influence

Coworker - "Hey man, I got a question."

Me - "What's up?"
Coworker - "Am I a bad influence?"

The question kinda threw me for a bit, and I got out of giving an answer by saying that since we didn't hang out together outside of work, I didn't really know what he was like and couldn't give an answer.

I thought about it.

And thought about it.

And thought about it.

My final line of thinking was that a man of bad influence has this negative influence because of a lapse of character. If this is constant, you could say that this person is character deficient. Stendhalian philosophy says that the way a lover acts towards a beloved is the truest way to judge their character. After one simple question, I was able to determine that under Stendhalian philosophy he was in fact character deficient.

Regardless of his situation, which is really none of my business nor can I do anything about it, I thought, "Well. . . am I a bad influence?" Given my recent year of college and the way I acted with peers etc etc etc., I find it fair enough to say that at Evangel, I was in fact a bad influence. Nowadays I wouldn't think quite nearly as bad, but just because you didn't kill as many as Hitler doesn't mean you're a saint either.

I find it strangely comforting to go throughout the day with this question in the back of my head. It's a great way to filter thoughts and actions, because it's not so much "Oh my gosh, how am I going to look good to this person and keep my goody-two shoes rep?". Instead it's "How can I live in such a way that won't cause others to stumble?"

Anyways, that's what I have for today.

Soli Deo Gloria.