What is not being said?

"I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon."

Joseph, Genesis 40:15

 

It’s worth noting what Joseph does not say. More than a decade after he had been sold into slavery, Joseph — the once and future cup-bearer to the King — did not tell his fellow prisoner that it was his own brothers who’d turned on him. Was he too embarrassed? Too traumatized? Did the wound run so deep that he had yet to fully face it? In both life and Bible study, we do well to make note of what is not being said.

 

The two paragraphs above came from From Mike Woodruff's 12/8/23 'The Friday Update.' I've had it sitting in my draft folder and been thinking about it since then.

I suppose there's a lot that's not said about me (by me). In many ways I've lived a privileged life of relative ease. In some other ways I've had more than my share of stuff to deal with. I've shared quite a bit, but some I have not. And I'd never really just sat and thought about that, but I do have to say, for some things it's simple embarrassment, for some there is trauma that is too much for me to deal with still, and, honestly, some is really just no ones business. Yes, even someone who considers themself an open book as much as anyone has things I just don't consider open for public examination.

One other thought... I think I'm getting less and less inclined to share my opinions too. I know, right? Pretty surprising. But I'm kind of getting sick of people's opinions. It doesn't matter if they're on the "right" or the "left." In fact, I'm sick of there being a right and left. I'm sick of agendized newscasts, sports shows - including pregame and postgame commentary, political rants, and even theological debates. That doesn't mean I am closed to hearing new ideas, but I'm fairly resistant to someone trying to sway me one way or another. 

There, I guess I said it. I suppose I'm a little blind to how I do this myself. 

Maybe I'm just tired. However, I think it's more a case of I'm tired of everyone thinking their opinion needs to be shared or has validity. 

Actually, this is probably what being old is like. Lol. Ugh. 

Or... we've all been forcibly carried off into this land of information manipulation, and we don't deserve to be controlled by what the wealthiest people on the planet want us to be controlled by... (Is that too conspiracy theorist-ic?)

 

**Btw, I've started reading 'Into the Silent Land: A Guide to the Christian Practice of Contemplation' by Martin Laird. Coming up sometime after that will be Johann Hari's 'Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention - and How to Think Deeply Again.'