Two-Dimensional People

When I was a kid- ok, even until now (when in the US)- if I could get my hands on the Sunday paper, I loved to lie down on the carpet with the comics pages that were IN COLOR, and read each comic strip. I would find the ones that I found the funniest or could relate to first, then go back and read the others. If I found some that I especially liked, I’d read them again and even out loud to whomever would feign to listen and even cut them out to tape on the wall or slip under a refrigerator magnet, so we could continue to get a chuckle on other days. Some of the comics, I read so much that I could almost make them come alive in my mind when I’d lie awake at night, trying to drift off to sleep. But, no matter how I may have tried, they were still imaginary characters and situations made up by some creative person I didn’t know.

It seems to me that we’re in the age of colorful comics all the time now. We create and design people in our own imaginations from 2-dimensional representations we see on the internet and tv. There are moments that I’m so glad that I’m not a public figure that strangers can read into little snippets of my actions and conversations, fill in the parts they don’t know, assign motivations to those actions and words, and define who I am as a person by those actions and words. Or, am I?

Well, I’m not a movie star or politician, but I am on social media, and the majority of people who “follow” me on Facebook and Instagram don’t see me on a daily basis, because of where I live. So, unfortunately, I am a victim, at times, of two-dimensionalisation. (Yes, I just coined that word!) I get put in a category of “mother”, “missionary”, “runner”, “Conservative Christian”, etc. While each of those words can describe me at times, they don’t define me as a whole person. No one can know my motivations, inner thoughts, and even the context of certain words and actions, by a post on FB or Instagram. That would be ludicrous! But isn’t that what we do?

I confess that I do the same thing. Because I’m so far away from folks I’m following, I naturally can put them in a box by what I see on social media. When I see something out of ordinary, I second-guess the definition of that person I’ve formed in my mind. Sometimes for the good, sometimes for the bad.

As I’ve thought more about it, I think about how maybe, like comic strip writers, I work to form that two-dimensional image I want people to see. I post things that make me look a certain way so that my character will be in a certain light. But, I’m not a comic strip character… and I was not created by an imaginative writer with a sense of humor, I was created by Almighty God. And, He is still creating me. This is called sanctification. And I am so thankful for it!

I mess up. I do stupid stuff. I say things I don’t mean and wish I could take back. I go through unimaginable things that I can’t share on social media, because it’s too sensitive. I can be funny. I get angry. I get lonely, and sad. I create good things but more often do mediocre, mundane things. For better or worse, these help to define who I am, whether I like it or not. And, I should consider that when I am lying on my stomach, scrolling through my newsfeed and even sharing with whomever would feign to listen. You are a living, breathing, wonderfully messed-up person loved by God; and so am I.

Jesus said, “Do to others as you would like them to do to you.” (Luke 6:31 NLT) Others = everyone outside of myself. (that’s not Webster’s definition, but my own… I think it fits) Would you like someone to judge you or categorize you by one action, one phrase, one moment in your life? Neither would I. Let’s give each other the benefit of the doubt. Jesus also said to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” My “neighbor” is basically in the category of “others” in the first passage. I’m not great at this, but I’m sure going to try. No living, breathing human being should be made into a comic book character. Though, I did enjoy putting my mug in one of those “cartoon-me” apps! I titled this blog “Two-dimensional People”, but those don’t exist in real life. Only in the funny papers.