“Jimmy, why are you sitting there all alone?”
“Nobody wants to play with me. They always fight with me.”
“Why don’t you go over and see Billy?”
“No, he always wants his own way.”
“You could play with Dick,” said the mother.
“No, we had a fight this morning. I punched him in the nose and his mother sent me home.”
“How about Jack?”
“We had a fight in the school yard.”
“If everyone fights with you, maybe it’s you,” said the mother.
“See, you’re picking on me, too. Everybody picks on me.”
“It is natural to disagree once in a while with people, but, if everybody quarrels with you and it takes two to quarrel, you must be looking for trouble.“
“I don’t care. They can all go soak their heads. I don’t like any of them.”
A person or a nation that is always at odds with others needs some self-examination. Certainly there are principles worth fighting for, but individuals that are always quarrelsome and nations that are torn by strife are going against the principles of humans and God and are most likely to be destroyed.
And even when destruction does not come, there remains a misery in existence that is far from really living. Love brings understanding, patience, and promotes peace having the highest goals for the well-being and happiness of all.
To be sitting in a corner all alone day after day at odds with others is a cruel existence. There are new methods and new ways to be sought that can bring about more human happiness, if we follow the teachings of Christ.
My Commentary:
At first, this sounds like an ordinary childhood exchange — hurt feelings, bruised noses, crossed arms, and wounded pride. A lonely child insists that everyone else is the problem. The mother, patiently and honestly, suggests a harder possibility: sometimes the common denominator is not them, but us.
That truth does not stop at childhood.
Individuals can grow into adults who remain locked in conflict, always misunderstood, always offended, always convinced they are being targeted. Nations can do the same — forever quarreling, forever justifying hostility, forever blaming others for their isolation. What begins as disagreement hardens into disposition.
Conflict itself is not the problem. Some principles are worth defending. Some injustices must be confronted. But when quarrels become constant, when peace is never sought, when listening disappears and resentment rules, something essential has been lost. Life becomes smaller. Hearts become closed. Community fractures.
The saddest image in this reflection is not the argument — it is the child sitting alone in the corner, day after day. Isolation is often the hidden cost of being perpetually at odds. It is a kind of slow misery that feels justified but drains joy, connection, and meaning.
Christ offers another way. Not the denial of truth, but the pursuit of love. Not weakness, but humility. Love creates space for understanding. Patience opens the door to peace. And peace aims not at winning arguments, but at the well-being and flourishing of all.
Without love, existence may continue — but real living does not. The teachings of Christ invite us out of the corner, back into relationship, and toward a life where peace is not merely avoided conflict, but shared hope.
Read St. Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” and spend some time reflecting and praying.
GOD DIDN’T ADD ANOTHER DAY IN YOUR LIFE BECAUSE YOU NEEDED IT. GOD ADDED IT BECAUSE SOMEONE OUT THERE NEEDS YOU!!
Someone out there DOES need YOU! Please share my Message. And please listen to my Podcast.
