This sermon was written by and published for Steamboat28 :
“That doesn’t seem very Jedi…”
This sentence holds us back. This sentence keeps us from being who we should be. And no matter how often it's true, or how overwhelmingly true it is, it is never, ever the right thing to say.
By saying this sentence, you are firstly engaging in the "No True Scotsman" fallacy, which should be enough to stop most rational thinking beings in their tracks. If you don't understand why logical fallacies are a bad thing, we'll get to that in another post at another time. For now, it is sufficient to know that logical fallacies are holes in logic; things in an argument that are beyond the rules of “making sense” as we know them.
We're all Jedi here, so saying this wretched statement implies that we're not "real" Jedi or "good" Jedi, which is some arbitrary ridiculousness that we reserve for perfect beings, none of which populate this particular Temple. We are all human. We all make mistakes--some of us more often than others, granted, but none of us are immune. We're all working toward the same goal here, too, so undercutting someone's progress when they slip is, itself, not very "Jedi" if we're going to point that finger.
It also reeks of that "holier-than-thou" crap most of us cite as a contributing factor to leaving other paths behind. If someone "isn't very Jedi", and you're pointing it out, you must be SOOOO much more Jedi than them. Except for that whole humility thing. Right?
Instead of snarkily reminding someone that they aren't "being Jedi", why don't we find constructive ways to suggest that their behavior is not what they are currently striving for? Instead of calling this out in public, why don’t we privately suggest to another that perhaps there is an alternative?
We are, none of us, perfect. We can’t be. Perfection is a goal that can never be attained, but it’s the only one worth striving for. Even when we fail, we progress. We learn. And here, in this place, we learn from one another as much and as often as we learn from our own mistakes. Take the time to take criticism. Take the time to give it in ways that build up rather than tear down. This isn’t a race, or a contest. We lose nothing by helping others down the path, walking side by side.
