“What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right.”
~
When we were quite young, it was very important to us to be popular. We would do anything to be liked and to be popular even to the point of doing the wrong thing. How many of us have taken dares when we were young to do something that we knew was wrong. We did them anyway because taking the dare meant acceptance and, perhaps, a bit of notoriety.
As we age, hopefully we realize the importance of doing the right thing rather than doing whatever will make us popular or accepted in the eyes of others. The only one we should be concerned with pleasing is God Himself. Anyone else who sends us a message that we should do something wrong in order to be accepted should be ignored. Ignored and avoided, for that matter.
I realize that is easier said than done. There is that part of our human nature that craves acceptance. There is that part that desires a bit of notoriety. There is that part of our nature that is just waiting to get us in trouble. The is the part that is tainted by the sinfulness of the world in which we live.
We need to do whatever is necessary to hone our insight so that we might know what is right and wrong and then exercise the courage to reject the wrong and embrace the right. Those tools have been given to us in our baptisms and confirmations. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are available to us. Do not be afraid to use them.
FAITH ACTION: Do not worry about what will make you popular today. Rather, busy yourself with doing the right thing.