Through social media such as Instagram and Twitter, #blessed has become a common trend; #blessed for a grande iced chai tea latte at Starbucks, #blessed that queen Beyoncé exists, and #blessed for Chipotle (extra gauc.) It has slowly made its way to casual conversation in which “blessed” comes out as a reflex rather than a cognitive thought. Blessed is commonly used to express how grateful someone is for what and who they have, but most are ignorant to the true meaning, and to the punch it throws. With or without the hashtag, the word has rapidly begun to lose its meaning. We have become blessed obsessed.
I see and hear "blessed" being used with a more serious connotation, and also much more offensive. A lighthearted mother posts on Facebook about how blessed she is that her kids are healthy and happy, but is a family with a child who has a life threatening disease not blessed? Does the mom lamenting over her son’s consuming depression possess less blessings? Has God blessed certain families and decided to punish others? You may think of yourself as blessed to have received a beautiful new car, but if you wreck that car, are you still blessed, or has that blessing disappeared or been taken away from you?
Another post reads something like: “I have just moved into the home of my dreams. I’m feeling so blessed to have something so extravagant.” The flip-side to this statement is that the man living on the streets or the woman living in a more modest home is looked at as less in God’s eyes. I am not a religious person, and have no intent of explaining the significance of blessed in the bible or how God envisioned it being used, but I know this term is being used too loosely and often incorrectly. Some people use blessed to create the illusion of humility, but it can come across as pompous and condescending regardless of how unintentional the motives.
Perhaps I have become more sensitive to the overuse of "blessed" since my four year-old cousin was diagnosed with leukemia. It was then that I realized that this little guy who spends countless hours in the hospital getting prodded with needles is no less blessed than the child who only accumulated a few scraped knees in life.
The antonyms of blessed are damned, wretched, condemned and cursed, so when pointing out how blessed you are, stop and think about what you’re labeling those less fortunate. We need to take a step back, and reevaluate our word choice. Instead of being blessed to have found a $5 bill, try using the word lucky; or instead of feeling blessed to have amazing friends, exchange it for fortunate.
We all have great experiences, people and things in our lives and, with humility, we should express how grateful we are for them. But we need to become less blessed obsessed and, instead, be more reflective of how our words are interpreted.
