"Turning the other cheek" is over-rated.

If you manage to live up to your own ideals I congratulate you on being seriously badass and you have all my respect.

I'll be the first to admit two things about this:

1. I don't.

2. It's hard as hell.

It's a philosophy I admire greatly, and try to apply to everything I do, but it's so damn hard because I have a temper that is insanely hard to control. It always seems easier to apply it to the huge things that life throws at me rather than little matters. Especially non-physical matters like personal arguments and things like that, it's hard to remain gracious to those that want to belittle me.

I recommend it to anyone.

I wonder how effective turning the other cheek would be against, say, gang members trying to jump you?

Philosophies tend to be easier to apply to huge general problems than to small ones. It's hard keeping track of the big picture when emotions get over you. Tell you what, read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. While a very useful book in general I think it's tailor-made for those like you who want to be actual Christians, and I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor.

"jump"? You mean "rape"? Useless, gang leaders aren't authority figures, they aren't trying to impose an image of fairness or justice, their power does not rely on the consent of the subordinates. It simply doesn't apply here.

edited 8th Jan '11 3:22:20 PM by RawPower