Bloody Shark Water

Excuse the graphic metaphor in the title but that is what this world is. Now for some ready examples of what the heck I’m referring to.

#1 Church Shark Water – I am humbled by the love I believe Jesus Christ exhibited on the cross whether others believe it or not. However, I am embarrassed by how little churchgoers care for fellow humans in a meaningful way. Sure there’s pity as in, “we churchgoers ought to go help the poor and disenfranchised once or twice a year for it is our duty as the superior creatures.” Churchgoers like myself are also often guilty of self-consumption. That is to say that we want you to know what’s going on at our churches though we couldn’t care any less than we do right now for whatever it is you’re doing. We parade our buildings, our smoke machines, our burgeoning youth programs that boast big numbers with high turnover to match. In other words, the church in America is really proud of itself and won’t dare be criticized for its narcicism.

#2 Business Shark Water is waded in by most all of us in some way, shape or form. You don’t even have to have a job to know what I mean but here’s an example of the pervasive and perilous world of dollars and cents. SAMPLE SCENARIO: The phone rings, I pick up and my digital television satellite provider is trying to offer me a new deal. I say, “No thanks” so that seller can move on to someone who might be interested but she won’t have any of that. She’ll try two or three counter moves to arrest my willingness to listen after I’ve said NO more than I care to. Everybody in the business world I know says that’s good business. On the contrary, if I have to raise my voice at a “phone shark”, how can that be good business? Sounds more like manipulation.

#3 Social Shark Water entails scores of situations and examples but you can examine your own habits to see if you fit the shark criteria. Symptoms include but are not limited to:

• Talking to someone you haven’t seen in awhile and not asking them what projects they’re working on or where their interests lie
• Justifying your impersonal demeanor by saying, “I’m just not good with people.” (fool, we live on a planet full of people.”)
• Selling something you wouldn’t buy yourself because it’s lucrative and maintains your lifestyle
• Threatening people because leverage is more expedient than negotiation
• Assuming that those who no longer belong to your clique have fallen from grace
• etc…

The old adage of, “Don’t bleed in the water” is actually true in the real world of shark infested waters. Experts say that sharks can smell blood from more than a mile away. And it’s not the hunger, since some sharks are said to be able to go months without eating. Real shark attacks on swimmers and divers are actually pretty rare with your chances being somewhere around 1 in 11.5 million according to the International Shark Attack File. If only the human variety was more infrequent.