Something I discovered at camp was that I need annoying people in my life. They are God’s remedy to my bad attitude, in spite of the fact that I tend to blame them for causing it. They force me into patience, either after breaking my will to throat-punch them, or because compared to these incredible individuals, everyone else is significantly more tolerable.
Not that there was any one individual who irritated me at camp. They all did. Totally kidding. I had this revelation when I had a room full of teenage boys, some of which feared my wrath and I enough to listen and obey me when I told them to do something, others though, were a little more defiant, and had to test “My authority”. (Anyone else seeing Cartman from SouthPark? That’s a bad show! Don’t watch it!)
I sat up one night wondering about these kids, why are they such a pain in in my backside? Do they not understand that I’m serving them by being their counselor? Awesome. Enter in self-righteousness.
It was that night that I discovered that I like the bad kids. They make me into a better leader, and potentially a better person. Besides that, I was an awesome bad kid in my time! If everybody was perfect, then why would counselors be needed? That’s a ridiculous oversimplification, and I’m not going deep with this, but how else does iron sharpen iron? By rubbing rough edges together. I’m not perfect, so when I get a really rough kid, they offer so much to me in the way of growth that I can’t pass it up! I certainly can become disgruntled, but that doesn’t last, after I throw a junior high-er or two across the room, I’m generally myself again. (reflect…Jake as the incredible hulk)
