Mr. Glemp

As I sat at the table yesterday morning, drinking my bitter brew, I landed upon an article in The Economist. Appropriately placed at the end of the magazine I found an obituary for a fellow by the name of Jozef Glemp. Glemp? I had to set aside thoughts of Dr. Suess books that buzzed through my head and read on. Jozef Glemp was a cardinal in the Catholic church who became primate of Poland. He must have been a bit of a grouch or had some unlovely disposition because the narrator had not taken the time to season his words with salt and my coffee tasted less bitter in comparison to the words I was taking in. By the time I finished the reading I was taken aback by the unflattering words written about the man, however, I reasoned with myself that the truth is the truth and there must be a reason for this unsavory report.

Apparently Mr. Glemp was a bit of a fence straddler, or rather the sort of fellow who would try and keep an even keel at all costs. The obituary relayed one of Glemp's worst attempts at keel-keeping in a post WWII, 1989 Poland, "for his ""dear Jews"" also controlled the mass media and, being cleverer, ""took advantage"" of Poles." The article said, "His most useful qualities, though they won him few friends, were his lawyer's caution and his insistence on the middle ground. They led to the coining of a new verb, ""to glemp"", meaning to try to please both sides."

Finding a middle ground has both negative and positive aspects depending on how or when it is used and how often a person attempts create a middle ground. In my few years I have learned that a person who always calls for a compromise is often thought of as weak and/or is weak, and people aren't going to like or respect someone who doesn't have any backbone and who doesn't stick to one side of the fence.

On a side note: I grew sort of fond of this verb, "to glemp", and I could already hear it in my common discourse: glemping, glemps, glemper, glemped... etc. (at this point spell check officially hates me).

In the closing the obituary stated, "a man whose imagination, and horizons, were not big enough for the job the times thrust upon him."
My first thought was that I'd rather not have any recognition upon dying if the world can not find anything good to remark upon in the final words of my obituary. Is there no peace in rest?
Nevertheless I realized that the soul who drafted Mr. Glemp's obituary must have decided it would be best to err on the side of caution, either in a frank and unflattering report or in sweet sonnet, so as to not be accused of glemping himself. I found this to be rather comical and forgave the writer for his harsh biography.

I suppose it is a good thing I do not write obituaries, for I suppose I am a bit of a glemper myself. Prone to trying to keep the boat from rocking I am one of those people who has, at times, been accused of being weak, indecisive, kind to a fault, naive ...etc. As I have grown older I am rather glad for the morals my parents have instilled in me and even more thankful for the Word of God which is my solid rock and my backbone. Though I often find myself struggling with a situation I am always able to look to The Truth and let that be my guide and conscience. Just as you can hold money up to the light to discover whether it is real or counterfeit, I hold incoming information up to The Light and let that be my baseline to live and to glemp by. (John 1:4)

I suppose that this would appear to many people as a weakness in and of itself, that is the need for someone else to 'call the shots', but I know my weaknesses and I know my strengths. It is all about perspective, knowing when to call for compromise and knowing when to quit. Just as Mr. Glemp illustrated in his 1989 speech, finding middle grown can be done very poorly and really cause more harm than it's worth, but if it is done with wisdom and grace it can be a blessing to many. That being said, it is no surprise that glemping happens to be a double-edged sword for me, for it is both my greatest strength and my most debilitating weakness.

I spend my life trying to find a balance between the two. ;)