The Comb-Over Sermon

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Ever know anyone with a comb-over?  You know, the cringetastic thing some folks do when they start to go bald, and they grow the hair on the sides really long and then comb it over their pate, thinking they're fooling anyone?  Did you ever just want to grab them and scream "JUST SHAVE YOUR HEAD!"?

But when you think about it, everyone has that comb-over in some sense.  There's something about a person that they don't like, or that they perceive as a weakness or social fault, and they do something even MORE ridiculous to try to cover it up?  Everyone, EVERYONE, does this to one degree or another.  Maybe you're shy, so you act in a condescending manner.  Maybe you THINK you only have ONE thing going for you, so you wrap yourself up tight in it, and then sneer at everyone who doesn't also have that thing (money, an education, a talent, whatever, doesn't matter what).

And here you are, screaming at the guy with the VISIBLE comb-over (or wanting to, at any rate).  Funny, eh?

Now, don't get me wrong...There's nothing wrong with being PROUD of that one thing, but shouldn't you be more than that one thing?  Should it BOTHER you, may I ask, that your assessment of other people is based on that ONE thing?  Because if you step outside of yourself for a minute and LOOK at what you're doing and how you're acting...Well, do you really want to be THAT guy?

The one really neat thing about this here half-ass death cult is that we mostly tend to judge people on who they are as a person...Not their social skills or their education or their wealth, etc, but whether they can stand upright in the face of their own worst instincts.

So, you know, shave that head, and STRIDE BOLDLY FORTH IN A GLORIOUS NEW AND SHINY-TOPPED FUTURE, WITH NO RIDICULOUS 'DO!

CAN I GET AN AMEN?

Or Kill Me.

[Pæs]

AMEN, PREACH IT.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Ever know anyone with a comb-over?  You know, the cringetastic thing some folks do when they start to go bald, and they grow the hair on the sides really long and then comb it over their pate, thinking they're fooling anyone?  Did you ever just want to grab them and scream "JUST SHAVE YOUR HEAD!"?

But when you think about it, everyone has that comb-over in some sense.  There's something about a person that they don't like, or that they perceive as a weakness or social fault, and they do something even MORE ridiculous to try to cover it up?  Everyone, EVERYONE, does this to one degree or another.  Maybe you're shy, so you act in a condescending manner.  Maybe you THINK you only have ONE thing going for you, so you wrap yourself up tight in it, and then sneer at everyone who doesn't also have that thing (money, an education, a talent, whatever, doesn't matter what).

And here you are, screaming at the guy with the VISIBLE comb-over (or wanting to, at any rate).  Funny, eh?

Now, don't get me wrong...There's nothing wrong with being PROUD of that one thing, but shouldn't you be more than that one thing?  Should it BOTHER you, may I ask, that your assessment of other people is based on that ONE thing?  Because if you step outside of yourself for a minute and LOOK at what you're doing and how you're acting...Well, do you really want to be THAT guy?

The one really neat thing about this here half-ass death cult is that we mostly tend to judge people on who they are as a person...Not their social skills or their education or their wealth, etc, but whether they can stand upright in the face of their own worst instincts.

So, you know, shave that head, and STRIDE BOLDLY FORTH IN A GLORIOUS NEW AND SHINY-TOPPED FUTURE, WITH NO RIDICULOUS 'DO!

CAN I GET AN AMEN?

Or Kill Me.

A-FUCKING-MEN!

[Cramulus]

HEYMEN!

Perceived Weakness + Overcompensation = New And Improved Weakness

[EK WAFFLR]

A-fuckin'-MEN!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I have engaged in the rather repulsive act of sneering at others because they were different, or ignorant, or stupid, or, young, or had the wrong beliefs; sneering at someone for something they are, which is distinctly different from sneering at someone for something they do. I realize now that my sneering condescension was borne of insecurity; the only reason I would feel an impulse to tout my own superiority is if I doubt myself and on some level feel like I need to prove something, so it's a habit I am trying to be conscious of and put a stop to, and instead address my own underlying insecurities.