Originally Published in 2020
I wrote this during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when emotions were running high and everyone seemed to have an opinion. Looking back now, I find it a little ironic. When I wrote these words in March 2020, I had no idea how long the world would remain disrupted or how deeply that season would affect us all. As I reread this article in 2026, I realised the circumstances have changed, but the lesson hasn't.
Social media still rewards comparison. We still find it easier to point out someone else’s blind spot than examine our own. And grace is still one of the greatest gifts we can offer one another.
So, with only a few light edits for readability, I’m sharing it again.
I was going to go off on a huge rant today, but I immediately felt a check in my spirit. So this is a mini-rant instead.
I had been noticing a tendency on social media where people feel they have to put one group down in order to praise another.
One popular meme making the rounds back then read:
“We won’t be thanking CEOs and billionaires when this is all over, but we’ll be thanking grocery workers, nurses, truck drivers, and janitors for keeping us safe.”
I understand the heart behind it. The writer wanted to honour the frontline workers who were carrying so much of the burden. But I also know there were godly CEOs and wealthy business leaders generously offering their expertise to governments, gathering in think tanks, and looking for ways to keep the economy afloat. I know of large companies that continued paying employees even when they couldn’t work.
Before someone protests, yes, I know there are greedy people in every income bracket. Just look at the empty shelves at your local Walmart before a forecasted storm rolls in.
After feeling my blood boil from seeing that meme shared over and over on Facebook and Instagram, I realised the original author was probably doing the best they could to express their gratitude. They may not have intended their comment about CEOs and billionaires to sound dismissive. I can’t judge their motives.
As the days turned into weeks during that difficult season, nerves became frayed. When we face uncertainty, it’s easy to become convinced that we’re right and they are wrong. The little quirks we once brushed off with a smile suddenly become as irritating as a flickering fluorescent light overhead.
So what’s the solution?
Do we isolate ourselves from family? Turn off social media? Become cyber-hermits? Write scathing Facebook posts every time we disagree with someone’s meme?
No.
Here’s a helpful reminder from Eugene Peterson’s The Message.
Matthew 7:3–5
“Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticise their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbour’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole travelling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbour.”
In other words:
Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Corrie ten Boom lately.
In The Hiding Place, Corrie openly shared her struggle when life was suddenly turned upside down. Her quiet life with her father, sister, and aunts disappeared almost overnight as strangers moved into their home. Everyone was under stress. Tempers flared. Personal space disappeared.
Corrie realised she would need to extend the same grace to her new housemates that God continually extended to her.
Little did she know that the lessons she learned in those crowded months would later help prepare her to survive the filthy, flea-infested barracks of a concentration camp.
Personal Application
Let’s be grateful for opportunities to examine our hearts when our buttons are pushed—whether on social media or around our own kitchen tables.
If a particular opinion or someone’s behaviour consistently irritates you, don’t immediately dismiss the feeling. Instead, let it become an invitation to ask God what He wants to show you about your own heart, motivations, or reactions.
Don’t run from those moments.
If you allow Him, God can use even our irritations to continue shaping us into the people He created us to be.
Until next time,
©2026 Katherine (Kath) Walden
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