Conviction

From Merriam-Websters: 

Conviction: the act or process of finding a person guilty of a crime especially in a court of law; or a strong persuasion or belief.

For the purposes of this blog we are referring to the latter and not the former.

Conviction (or having convictions) can be a funny thing at times.  By funny of course I mean aggravating.  Then again if it was easy it wouldn't require conviction.  This is especially true when the people we care about either a) don't have the same convictions b) think a particular conviction should only apply in certain circumstances, especially when convenient for them and inconvenient for you (which of course is kind of the opposite of conviction) and/or c) think you are insane for standing by your convictions.

We all have convictions about something.  Thankfully many of these such as murder are shared by the vast majority of us.  Some of these convictions come from our personal spiritual beliefs, some from our parental upbringing and yet others simply from learning certain lessons the hard way.  [Funny side note is that sometimes a lack of conviction is from never learning that lesson despite the hard consequences that are handed out.] Truth be told there are probably a number of different sources for our convictions.  Basically I am referring to a persons own "moral code" if you will.

Those who know me well understand I have no problem (with rare exceptions) in sticking to my convictions; they also know I usually don't have any problem talking about them either.  The source of my convictions comes generally from the three areas I mentioned above (parental, spiritual and personal experience.)  My convictions have served me well my 37 years on this planet and I am not ashamed of them.  In part they have helped me achieve the success I have had both personally and professionally.  Without them I most certainly would be living a below average life right now.

To be fair (and to be honest) my convictions have cost me certain relationships with family members, close friends and girlfriends (of the ex variety).  While many of those moments were indeed sad they were also necessary breaking points in my life.  Either I would stand firm for what I believed was right (thus staying true to myself) or I wouldn't; instead allowing unsafe people (yes even family members) to have influence over my life in subtle and not so subtle ways.  Especially as a younger man I didn't always handle the communication of my feelings or beliefs in the proper manner.  Outside of that I have no regrets and will not have any going forward either.

You can read about one of my convictions in the blog entitled "Nick Offerman is Satan" I don't expect everyone (or even the majority) of people to agree with my convictions.  Truthfully I couldn't care less.  Many people, including friends whose opinions I respect a great deal (and others I don't) thought I took a relatively hard stance regarding Mr. Offerman.  Good for them.  However, I am the only person who has to live with myself 24/7 until I die (apologies to my wonderful wife who mercifully gets at least 5 days a week of not having to live with me for 8 - 12 hour increments) and I have a strong desire to stay true to myself.  No apologies.

Hopefully dear reader you understand I am not referring to a conviction that I can ONLY eat hamburgers on Thursdays and Saturdays or that under no circumstances do I leave the house before a certain time on Mondays and Wednesdays.  I am talking about things that have a certain degree of substance or has its DNA rooted at least in part on a certain moral code society in general has about things.  Drug use for instance is a GREAT example!

Look I don't have a problem if you want to use drugs (just ask my neighbors) but you better believe I will do my best to keep your drug use from having an influence on my life.  You can talk about your drug use around me if you want.  Having never used illegal drugs I won't have a great amount of input into the conversation but I will listen.  Just don't bring that shit around me, my family or my hypothetical future children.  If you want my opinion on your drug use I will give it but not unsolicited.  It is true I did fall madly in love (mostly by accident) with a woman who used drugs (i.e. lied about it very well) and that "relationship" nearly destroyed me.  You can't ever save a person who doesn't want or need to be saved but that didn't stop me from trying.

One of the more nebulous convictions I have is not wanting to be around people who are either a) ungrateful or b) take advantage of my kindness/generosity.  The longer I am on this earth the more I am learning people don't place value on being polite and showing gratitude towards others.  Certainly not as much as I do but I digress.  I don't engage in acts of kindness for the thank you's and certainly not because I feel I am earning some kind of "credit" for doing so.  Despite what some people think I really enjoy being kind and generous to people.  My closest friends know this about me.  However, I do expect a thank you or some show of gratitude.  It's called being polite.  Failure to do so is just flat out disrespectful.  Even worse when a person realizes (or are duly notified) they failed to say "thank you" or show gratitude and still decide not to bother.

Don't get me wrong.  It's not as if failure to say "thank you" one time is going to get you cast into utter darkness (cause that is what it is like if you aren't my friend, obviously!).  However, a pattern of not saying thank you and/or not acknowledging that I spent a significant amount of money to have you come to...hmmm...say...to a family function (hypothetically of course) is going to be a problem. A substantial one.  Fool me once shame on you.  Fool me twice shame on me.

What I irritates me is being asked to compromise these convictions simply because others don't share them.  Forgive me for not wanting to be around someone who uses drugs, takes advantage of me and/or might murder me.  Yes I said murder me.  The point is most people would agree it isn't the best idea to be around someone who might kill them.  However, as we get further away from that example many people have vastly different opinions on what they will and will not allow in their life.  For me drug users is included in that list.  We might still be friends but there will always be a certain distance that I will choose to keep you at.  If you happen to be a murderer as well then you can pretty much be assured we won't be going fishing anytime soon.

Hey, you want to hang out with people who might do you bodily harm, cook up some meth and then drive off with your car (and of course not say thank you!) then go right ahead.  More power to you!  I celebrate you for standing by your convictions (or lack thereof if you prefer).  However, I refuse to put myself or my family at risk (great or small) simply because someone is going to be offended or think I hate them.

Will standing by my convictions cost me future relationships?  No doubt.  Some of them will probably even be significant and close.  However, I counted the costs of my convictions a long time ago and am willing to lose unhealthy and unproductive relationships for healthy, productive and beneficial ones in the future.  I am not writing off these relationships forever; please understand that.  There have even been friends/family that came back online later after each of us learned to grow up a bit and have an adult conversation about things that occurred or happened in the past.  Yet I won't suffer ongoing abuse, risk my safety and well being "hoping" someone gets their shit together.

It's not going to happen and I won't apologize for it.  Let's end by using something Christ said in the gospels (and yes some of my convictions come from a man who wasn't afraid to put people in their place) even if to a certain degree it is taken out of context.

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn

“‘a man against his father,
    a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
³⁶     a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’

“Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:34-37)

And since everyone just LOVES Tommy Jeff...