I read this on Yahoo! this morning:
“Robert Pattinson isn’t naming names or pointing fingers, but he’s opening up about his unique views on forgiveness. Not long ago, the 27-year-old “Twilight” actor and Kristen Stewart were the stuff of Hollywood fairytales, an on-screen couple even hotter off-screen. But, when Kristen became the center of a public cheating scandal nearly a year ago, the couple was forced to battle out their relationship in the press… Now that they seem to be living separate lives, has he forgiven and forgotten?
“I don’t ever feel the need to forgive or expect people to be,” Pattinson confessed to Australia’s Sunday Style. “I judge people on their actions. I don’t really care if it’s wrong or right, I give them the benefit of the doubt. If they do something I can’t be bothered to deal with, I just cut them out.”
Before I continue, let me say this: I’m not sticking up for Kristen Stewart. I’m also not picking on Robert Pattinson per se. I’m sure he’s a great guy, and what happened to him sucks. I’m also sure his life philosophy, ironically, is a “vampire path”—and it’s all too common in our society.
The Vampire Path
1. I don’t ever feel the need to forgive.
2. I judge people on their actions.
3. If they do something I can’t be bothered to deal with, I just cut them out.
I have to say, I’ve met people who seem to choose the vampire path as a way of life. The root of Pattinson’s philosophy lies just beneath his last statement. If your humanity or weakness or sin doesn’t work for him or serve his interests, you’re voted off his personal island. Let me put it another way: If I can’t suck your blood (translation, if you start sucking mine), off you go. I can be a vampire, or flawed, or even merely human, but you can’t… or you’re fired. Friendship over.
A celebrity can fool themselves into thinking this philosophy is working for a little longer than the rest of us. Thousands of starstruck people would kill to get to know Robert, so relationships can start to feel disposable. If I don’t like you, there’s someone next in line who will be more than willing to step up.
The rest of us can’t live the vampire path for very long. The more people we “cut out” the smaller our world gets. The smaller our heart gets. The more our relationships become vampiric—that is, all about us and what we can be bothered to put up with.
Far better to embrace the power of the gospel, where grace slathers everything with dignity, faith, hope, and love. Where love covers a multitude of sins and vampires like us can recover from our addictive curse. Where it’s not about me, or even about you, but about Jesus. His gospel path enlarges our world along with our hearts, freeing us to transcend evil—both in ourselves and others.
It’s easy to identify the vampires in our lives. I can think of a few. But the real question is, am I a vampire myself? It’s tricky to diagnose, because vampires can’t look in the mirror and see their reflections.
So my question for you is, how do you identify and root out your own vampiric tendencies?