I used to listen to a band called Plankeye. They got their name from an ancient proverb that goes like; don't try and remove the speck of sawdust in your friends eye until you extradite the log in your own eye.

It is found in the Bible:

3 And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own? 4 How can you think of saying, 'Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,' when you can't see past the log in your own eye? 5 Hypocrite! First get rid of the log from your own eye; then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye. Matthew 7:3-5

Recently I had a rather new acquaintance really go off on me and some other guests with quite accusatory questions about our country of origin and the sordid politics of the world scene. It felt like an assault. But after it was all done, and those who could have been offended and hurt had sat through it, I wondered how often we (the offended) were on the giving out side rather than the receiving end. How often do we question with vigor something we don't understand. Do we say it with frustration especially to someone who really didn't and can't have anything to do with it? How often are we prone to put down the way others do something that doesn't matter at all. Do we speak our opinion and in a condescending way put down the gracious hosts we enjoy the company of?

Oh I could see my own reflection in the incident. I need to get the loggers in to harvest the forest growing in my proverbial optical fault.