April 5, 2023

Don’t Be Mad, Be Glad

In 1963 the slapstick comedy film It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World was released. The film begins with a car accident on a lonely freeway in the Southern Californian desert: ex-convict Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante) loses control of his car and drives it off a cliff. Five motorists stop to assist Grogan but he is fatally injured. With his dying breath Smiler reveals he hid a cache of stolen loot, $350G’s, at a park buried under a “Big W in the town of Santa Rosita California.” The motorists discuss Grogan’s words and try to reason with each other for a fair share of the loot. Civility quickly deteriorates into MADness and an all-out zany race ensues between the motorists vis-à-vis to get to the money. The movie lives up to its billing—MAD!

Like the movie—MAD people are everywhere! Everyone is MAD about something these days: the economy, the president, Wall Street, Homeland Security, TSA, unions, taxes, politicians, police, guns, the weather, immigration and just everything in general; and the mother of all madness—our government is MAD!! A cursory look at this week’s news headlines reveals MADness abounds.

MAD, is also an acronym of Mutual Assured Destruction. It is a doctrine developed during the cold war and arms race between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union. It is a M.A.D.doctrine of military deterrence based on the belief that any full-scale use of weapons of mass destruction (such as atomic bombs) by two opposing sides would effectively result in the utter annihilation of both attacker and defender (thus the world). This would be a war that has no victory nor armistice, but only reciprocal destruction. To intensify this MADness, U.S. intelligence believed the Soviets had studied developing a fully automatic system—a doomsday machine. Once the doomsday machine sensed an attack had occurred, it would automatically—without human command—send out the signals for retaliation and so on. Reportedly, when the Soviets drew up the blueprint and looked at it, they thought, “this is absolutely crazy.”

The people which developed and promoted this MADness clearly were/are nuts and wacko! MAD would destroy the world as we know it. Earth would become a dead planet uninhabitable for life! Conversely, are you aware that all of us have the capacity and potential to be MAD? Any of us can go off and mutually destroy another!

Most of us know someone who has “someone or something in their crawl” that they can’t see straight. Most conversations with them usually deteriorate into a diatribe of how so and so did such-and-such or how this is that is “so wrong” and they are MAD about it. Occasionally, the other party or parties involved are just as MAD about it because they feel it’s them who “were wronged.” If you’ve been unfortunate enough to be caught in the middle of such a situation, you understand the MADness.

Recall the last time you were MAD at someone. Being offended or hurt by another person is a hazard of being human. Most of us follow the teachings of Christ and forgive and move on. Sadly, it looks as if the new norm for being MAD is to either to riot, murder, loot, or attack whatever or whoever is handy. You may recall the story of Cain and Abel. Cain was MAD at God for rejecting his offering; Abel was an innocent bystander—yet Cain took his MADness out on Abel and killed him (Gen 4:1-16).

The danger of being MAD is—it’s contagious. Some people, when aggrieved, don’t sit around and brood. They seek allies and supporters to help carry their banner. Don’t become a casualty of someone’s MADness. Instead, be a peacemaker and show them how Jesus teaches us to pray and forgive! “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Mt. 5:44-45a). As Christians we know forgiveness begins with Christ: “Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive” (Col 3:13).

This is a tall order, but it comes from the Prince of Peace. The alternative is being MAD and I just can’t believe any rational, loving person should be MAD. Paul gave us the best prescription when he wrote: “If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:18). Don’t be MAD but be glad in forgiveness!