In High School, I was asked to go and visit the elementary school and explain to the children that they should not take drugs. While we were there we also got to eat lunch and go to recess with them. I was excited about recess because they had a game called four square, and you try to knock other players out by hitting the ball into their square where they can not return it. As we were playing, the player in the first square was allowed to make up certain rules, and the rules the boys would make put the girls that were playing at an impossible disadvantage. I finally got to serve, and disallowed some of the rules to give the girls a chance. One of the boys mocked me, saying, “If you do that, you are a wimp!” I simply shrugged and said, “Okay.” Immediately they were all in shock. They could not believe that it did not bother me to be thought of as a wimp.

Sadly, some people do not grow out of this concept of letting other people’s words determine their actions. Especially within a group of peers we never want to be though of as weak or inferior in any manner (It is easier to ignore kids than those who are my own age.). We do not handle insults or cutting words very well, no matter the intent behind them. Injurious actions have the same effect. Any of these reactions can provoke us. However love is not provoked.

The big danger of being provoked is the lack of control. In the above story, they were trying to provoke me to change my behavior by making fun of me. Had I relented, I would have changed my behavior because of what they had done. When people provoke us, whether intentional or not, they lead us to change our behavior towards them. An insult may cause us to insult them back. We are no longer behaving kindly, because of an action they did. It’s important that we do not allow ourselves to be provoked. We will treat them the same, with love, no matter what they do. They can not provoke us to do otherwise.