Once upon a time there was an automobile manufacturing company. The CEO had designed state-of-the-art sports cars with incredible speed, gas mileage, and longevity. This famous CEO hired a team of writers and editors to publish a book about his life story. But the CEO didn’t just want any writers; he wanted writers with whom he already had a relationship, so that he could trust that his values, message, and details would be recorded and expressed accurately.
This team of writers had to be intimately familiar with him, his life, his industry, his family, and the inner mechanisms of the vehicles he designed. Only then could he trust that the details of his story would be accurately expressed and communicated, as the CEO and the writers would both be “on the same page,” understanding each other, and flowing in the same direction together. Some writers would be more intimately familiar with different aspects of his story. For instance, his wife would have keen insight into his attitude, personality, marriage, and home life. Chief engineers who worked on the original blueprints and manufacturing of his vehicles would have keen insight in writing about the design of the cars.
Now there was an up-and-coming employee who had served with the company for many years. He came into the company as a young, handsome, charismatic, smart, visionary, industrious, warm, sociable, and engaging leader. This man had been on a course straight toward the top of the company. Long story short, however, he got passed up for a promotion which he had really been hoping to get. After all those long months of blood, sweat, and tears, envisioning and dreaming of all the things he would accomplish in this new position, he was devastated when the CEO gave the position to “a new guy.” His heart was broken to pieces and it seemed his dreams were being dashed by the CEO’s decision.
Envy and bitterness began to consume him. “Why this new guy? What is it in this new guy that the CEO sees? How could he be so blind? Can’t he see how much more qualified I am for the job?,” he wondered. He felt rejected and betrayed by the CEO. Despite the CEO’s friendship and fatherly relationship with the leader, this man was so hurt by the decision that he started resenting the CEO. Eventually, the man entertained thoughts of getting even with the CEO for passing him up on the promotion. Offense and anger drove him to leave the company, and his anger began turning to hatred.
Soon after the disgruntled employee left the company, the CEO’s book hit the presses and soon became a national bestseller. Still consumed with unforgiveness and seething with bitterness against the CEO, the ex-employee had an idea. He would use his influence on social media to discredit the CEO and his book. After purchasing a copy of the book, he studied it thoroughly and began to analyze it, picking it apart chapter-by-chapter and even sentence-by-sentence. As he read the book, the bitterness and pain of his past experience deeply colored his interpretation of the message.
Every time the CEO expressed his heart to his audience, the ex-employee would feel disgusted. “Liar!,” he would mutter, as the CEO shared his heart about how he felt about every employee of the company. The CEO shared how he longed to connect deeply with his employees, how he wanted them to succeed not only in the company, but also in their personal lives. “If the CEO really loved me and knew what was best for the company,” reasoned the ex-employee, “he would have promoted me! I am going to show the world his true colors…”
Questions for reflection:
- Would you trust the objectivity of the ex-employee concerning the CEO’s book?
- Do you think that the ex-employee will pinpoint a plethora of apparent “contradictions” in the book?
- Do you think that the lens of his bitter experiences will inform how the ex-employee interprets the passages and even hundreds of individual sentences within the book?
- How likely do you think it is that the ex-employee will misinterpret the heart and the message that the CEO is trying to communicate to his audience?
- Did the CEO really betray and reject the ex-employee? Or rather did the ex-employee simply feel that way because he didn’t get promoted?
- Is it possible that the CEO really did want to promote the leader (the ex-employee), but that it wasn’t the proper time or the best position for him yet? Is it possible that the CEO had objective knowledge into both candidates and about who would succeed in the position that the leader was failing to see?
- Is it possible that the CEO really did care deeply about the leader, but that the leader was unable to receive further guidance and love from him because of his bitter attitude?
- Is it possible that the leader’s pride led him to feel rejected and to quit? What if the leader had been happy for the new guy instead of envious of his promotion?
- What if the leader respected and honored the CEO’s decision, trusting that the CEO used wisdom, incredible insight, and careful consideration in his decision? Is it possible that the leader might still be working happily for the company today, and be better poised for promotion in the future?
- Might the leader be happier if he had responded with humility and trust regarding the CEO’s decision, rather than opening the door for bitterness, rejection, envy, and pride in his thought life?
- Do you think the ex-employee will be happy if he retains his bitterness and unforgiveness against the CEO?
- How do you think that his unforgiveness and resentment attitude toward the CEO will affect the ex-employee’s future endeavors and dreams?
For more information about bitterness, see my post “What is Bitterness?“
In some ways this parable that came to my mind today reminds me of an old blog post called “Satan Wants to Take Away Your Fun.”
