The Guilt Trip Version of the Axis of Weevil Thursday Three! From Terry, who feels guilty about not providing blog-olicious content for the last few days due to work constraints:
1) Who is the best person in your family at inducing guilt in others?
2) What is the last thing you did or didn't do that you later felt guilty about?
3) Is there anyone in your family who is immune to shame and guilt?
I'm half Sicilian and grew up Catholic - that should answer all three questions right there.
1. It seems that along with other changes of the hormonal variety, motherhood instills in women the ability to spew gut-wrenching, mind-boggling, guilt-inducing thoughts on anyone who shares their immediate gene pool. My mother is no exception. She may, in fact, have gotten a double dose.
2. I often feel badly about things I could have done, but don't often feel guilty. Feeling guilty stems from not meeting other people's standards for my behavior, rather than not meeting my own. Please note: I am far from perfect, and know it; God is working mightily on me in more than one area. Yet I find, often, that other people feel free to behave in ways that would make me feel guilty (in the sense that I've violated the standards I hold for myself), should I do them.
This is making me sound like a holier-than-thou, stuck up pig, isn't it? But there is a world of difference between the guilt imposed on us by other people, and the guilt God uses to prompt us to repent of sin and behave as He would have us behave. The end result may be the same - we do what the other person expects - but the motivation is different.
Bah. Maybe I need more coffee.
3. My sister.
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