Grumble Tone

In the same way you judge
others, you will be judged.
      —Matthew 7:2

Neither Moses nor God could do anything right—every discomfort was their fault and sent the Israelites into grumbling tantrums. And the church barely got its legs before there was grumbling that some of the widows weren’t getting a fair shake.

Grumbling and judging are synonymous—an addiction to finding something wrong with every meal, every person, every song selection, every thermostat setting.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote a poem about a boy she dubbed Grumble Tone. From the time he was just a youngster until his “hair grew white as snow,” nothing ever pleased Grumble Tone …

The reason was that north or south, where’er his steps were bent,
On land or sea, in court or hall, he found but discontent,
For he took his disposition with him, everywhere he went.

And so it goes.

Criticism reveals more about
the critic than the criticized.

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