What do you want to be when you grow up? Children are impressionable. As they’re introduced to the world their minds are a blank slate. As myriad images flash before them, something will stand out in their mind as most desirable: “I want to be a princess; I want to be a football star.”
Once a boy answered, “I want to be a soldier. Soldiers are heroes. I want to be a hero.” He would play with plastic army men and fantasize of battles. One year, his family vacationed at Lake Tomahawk, Wisconsin, where an M4 Sherman tank was on display.
There were no barriers protecting it. The boy climbed all over it, trying to pry open the welded hatches, envisioning himself riding atop while landing on the beaches of Anzio, manning a machine-gun. Disneyland offered no attraction that could so excite him.
“Dad!” he exclaimed, “If I get a tank, can I put it in the yard?”
“What?” his father replied, “Don’t be ridiculous! You can’t get a tank. That’s absurd. And just what do you think you would do with it? Nonsense!” So the boy put it out of his mind.
40 years later, the boy’s mother reminded him of that incident. She said, “I hated your father for saying that. What would have been so wrong with just saying, ‘Sure, you can put it next to the driveway,’ and letting you be happy? Why did he have to crush your dreams?” But no one ever said anything to the father about his callousness.
A thread once showed up on a message board for Jeep enthusiasts that began with something like, “Hi, I’m looking for advice: My boyfriend is obsessed with restoring his Jeep. He spends all of his time in the garage. We don’t go out like other couples do. What can I do to get him to stop pouring all his money, energy and time into his rust-bucket? Thanks.”
The first response went along the lines of, “1: You’re his girlfriend, not his wife. 2: That means it’s his money, not yours. 3: You’re nothing but a gold-digging dream-killer. 4: Do you love him? 5: Help him pursue his dreams, i.e.: Make him a sandwich; hand him a wrench; hold the flashlight; scrub his back in the shower. That’s my advice. If you’re not willing to participate in the pursuits of the man you love, ditch him and find some other snowflake you can manipulate. Men need help, not nagging.”
Santa Cruz, California is an affluent community with a substantial homeless population. As the homeless crowd congregates – sharing weed and getting merry – people with 6-digit incomes drive past sneering, considering them a blight on society.
The homeless people see the disdain. They perceive the resentment. They think, “You’re jealous: We are poor and happy. You are rich and bitter. Sorry about your luck. Perhaps you should notice that the $250/hr you’ve been paying your therapist every month hasn’t helped you. Hook up with us: We’ll score you some weed a lot cheaper and you can be jovial as we are.”
Apart from the social status of having a padded financial portfolio, what benefit is derived from working 60+-hours-a-week if you’re miserable? Think about it. What do you want to be when you grow up: Miserable?
Why should you resent the happiness of others who have opted to avoid your misery? What is the source of that bitterness? Why would the father be affronted that his son wanted a tank? Why would the girlfriend despise the Jeep? Why should rich people resent the happiness of the downtrodden? What is the motivation behind the desire to kill someone else’s dreams?
It’s spiritual. If you discover yourself despising the happiness of others, you need to consider whether or not you’re being spiritually manipulated. It costs you nothing for someone else to be jolly. You have no vested interest in it. Why then should you be bitter?
Scripture depicts the fall of satan in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28: Once an anointed cherub, the glorious angel was cast down to destruction (Ez 28:14). What was his sin? He had said, “I will be like the Most High (Isa 14:14).” God slapped him down and said, “Not for you (Isa 14:15).”
Then God had the audacity to make a new creature – “Man” – In His own image, after His own likeness (Gen 1:26), which means that he (she) would be “like The Most High.”
“Hey!” satan replied, “No fair! That’s where I was going to sit!” So now he’s bitter. Now he’s resentful. Now he’s vengeful and takes out his wrath upon those who were created in God’s image, who are what he wanted to be. That is the motivation behind every evil in this world. The devil hates you because he hates God. If he can’t kill you, he’ll try to make you miserable: He’ll kill your dreams.
God, on the other hand says, “All things are possible,” and “Ask and ye shall receive.” So the next time you encounter a dream-killer saying, “No you can’t!” Ask yourself, “Where is that coming from?”
So, what do you want to be when you grow up?