So, let’s talk about……….Karen’s.  What is a Karen to be exact?  My mind pictures a middle-aged woman, a bob haircut, sunglasses molded into her hair, extremely bossy to people who try to help her, and overly demanding if something goes wrong in her bubble of perfection. But there are male Karen’s as well. An example of a Karen would be, “let me see your manager!” 

Karen’s thrive to be the center of attention by belittling, insulting, abusing, and yelling absolute garage at workers who make minimum wage. 

What causes a Karen to be, well, a Karen. Perhaps they are having a bad day, maybe their expectations of something great were smashed into little pieces of normalcy, or maybe a Karen believes that they are simply better and how dare someone question their royalty or greatness. But I’m not a Karen expert and nor have I studied Karen’s in the wild at the local coffee shops or department stores and so my guess is as good as yours. 

However, dealing with a Karen can make one exhausted, angry, bitter, and frustrated.  What do we do when we encounter one? As people of faith, we cannot change someone’s behavior, but we can change our behavior in dealing with a Karen and maybe their behavior may also change, so let’s dive into this with some wisdom from the Bible. 

Hebrews 12:14 states, “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”  What does this mean?  I believe it’s simple, even though someone’s behavior is like trash, we are to do our best to show, through our behavior, holiness, and peace, and not become frustrated by others.  I understand this may be extremely difficult in this situation but it’s our job to live and show the peace of our Father through our actions.  Let’s continue.

Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 13:4-8 about love.  But he is not writing to a wife or a husband, even though the passages may also apply about marriage, he is writing to the church who is struggling to find some kind of break in a city swept by horrible behavior of all kinds by the population. While writing, he states love is kind, patient, does not boast or become envious, is not rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, does not keep record, and does not delight in anger but rejoices in truth. 

Wow!  What great words of wisdom.  Can we not combat the Karen’s in our life with love and peace?  Think why a person is behaving like a Karen.  Throw the grenade of love and peace at them.  As you do so, your behavior dealing with the situation will improve and maybe, just maybe, Karen’s behavior will also improve for the better.