A few years ago we had the opportunity to live in the US and the cultural experience was surreal. The midwest cities feature a historical and cultural display each year in summer, in what is called a “county fair”. It’s that time of the year when city blokes like us make contact with country folk, whose life is marked by corn, John Deere tractors, early 1900s costume parties and play acts, really fat pigs appearing on shows, and a lot of fried foodstuff. We got to try everything from corn dogs, deep fried Oreos, deep fried ice-creams and even something called a “garbage burger” (I wonder what they thought the trash can was!)
My first impressions of going to these farm fêtes was that everything from a country horse to a coke can was three times the size I’ve seen in India. Even their trucks and car tires were humongous. The people appeared huge and we seemed like pygmies posing next to them in photos. For once, I could savour the Israelite experience of spying on Amalek’s land – too good to be true yet too small to fit in! Huge people they, I mused.
Caricatures are a bit like my first-time country fair experience – you see the oddities and make exaggerated conclusions on matters that you only get to see or know for a very short span of time. Caricatures are interesting when you first make them, but then, if you’ve never seen the real deal, you mistake it for the worst or funniest representation of reality.
Caricaturing contexts may be more benign than caricaturing people. But what does it mean to caricature people? It means we look at quirks, oddities, or behaviours of people to make exaggerated conclusions about who they are and how they operate.
Take for instance the girl who comes to college with her hair covered in a beanie all the time, books hugging close to her chest, head held low with an occasional eye contact only to give approval. She is the kind of girl who is easily bullied and caricatured as the “nerd” owing to her awkward social behaviour. I once met a girl just like that several years ago. She had no friends at all, talked to cows and dogs and was easily missed in a crowd. But after befriending her, I got to know that she behaved the way she did because she was deeply grieving the loss of her dad. In a fit of anger, she had chopped off her lovely mane and was hiding her sorrows and disappointments under a beanie. What surprised me the most was that she befriended me when I was hurting and lost in my own wilderness. I call her my “bramble friend”.
We hear caricatures of people all the time even in the church. When someone new walks in, we want to get the inside scoop on who they are and where they’re from so as to create a caricature of them in our minds. We exaggerate their spiritual freckles, ruffle up their past, add one to one and come up with bizarre conclusions that often distances the real person from us. And if we’ve gotten to know someone and have been hurt in the process, we once again caricature the person as hurtful or insensitive and pass on that damaging imagery to others around us in a way that keeps that person always at arm’s distance from the rest. “That guy’s a weirdo, he never speaks a word in a conversation!” “She’s loud, brash and is out to take control.” “His English is terrible, he must be illiterate and dumb.” “That aunty is nosy. Better stay out of her way.” “He’s Pentecostal (no comments).” “She’s a Calvinist (make no comments to her)”.
When people get caricatured, a precious part of them gets lost in the assumption.
You may be next door neighbours for years, but have grown to think the other is quite alien, actually. You may be avoiding some people in your church because they just don’t “click” or are not your “wavelength” whereas they may be undergoing the sanctifying power of Christ in areas you think are weaknesses. You miss the privilege of being sanctified yourself by being with those unlike you, as iron sharpens iron.
Did you know that Jesus always welcomed quirky folk into his company? Think about Peter who was quick and impulsive and sometimes just plain silly. Or Zacchaeus the dwarf who got up the tree to see Jesus. John and James were fighting with Jesus like kids for a place on his throne. How about the woman who kept kissing Jesus’ feet in public? Quirky and awkward people like these won Jesus’ hearts everywhere he went. Much less than caricaturing them, he took the time to look them in the eye, listen to them and love them with a deep love.
What about you? Who are your close friends? Are they like you or are there quirks about them you never bother to think about? Does being in their company make you feel stupid or sanctified? Are there people you are avoiding in your church, college or workplace because they have been caricatured as weirdos or touch-me-nots? If so, then here’s a friendly suggestion.
Take a deep look into your inner mirror and see if thou art blemishless. And when you find out, know that Christ has not caricatured you. In fact, He created you as you are, and He calls you to be in a loving relationship with Him. As you walk with Him, He will change you into His image. Becoming then like Jesus, you will no longer caricature people as a sum of their bad behaviours, but look into their soul and love them as He loves you. And hey, maybe some of them will even become your bramble friends!