Swearing is capable of expressing a raw realness of life that is lacking in all other words in the English language.and in response to that
I both pity and scorn the uneducated yokel whose grasp of himself and English is so shallow as to consider swearing among the truest touches of emotions. What do they teach in schools these days?(See Mike? A joke, of sorts.)
Elsewhere, I've been thinking that character development is like disaster preparation. Much of the time it's impossible to tell whether or not character development is happening. Those who are faithfully changing and those who are not look roughly the same. And then Katrina hits. And one's preparation - character - is revealed for the world to see. Sometimes Katrina is getting fired. A death in the family. A loss of a significant other or a divorce. A fight with a best friend.
I was thinking today that I tend to get complacent between the hurricanes and forget how important character and disaster preparation are. I tend to slack and forget to invest in communication equipment, dry food, and evacuation plan. I like glamour and glitz, not hardwork that seems meaningless. We only really see the success - or failure - of disaster preparation when the disaster strikes. We can speculate about theories of preparedness, but the true test is at the moment when landfill is made.
Am I committed to the daily grind of character development? To biting my tongue when others take credit for my work? To being genuinely gracious when others slight me? To playing the servant even when I don't think it matters? Do I believe God sees that which no one else sees? What patterns am I sowing for the future? How will those patterns impact the recovery effort when the next storm hits my life?
2 comments:
"I don't swear just for the hell of it. Language is a poor enough means of communication. I think we should use all of the words we've got. Besides, there are damn few words that anybody understands."
--Drummond, Inherit the Wind
I was going to blog about this (and still may), but you beat me toooooo ittttttt.....:)
Yes and no... I have a hard time with "swear" words... I do agree that on one hand, in particular moments no other word quite expresses what you are feeling.
So fine, no big deal. But there are many that rely on those words which are offensive and sinful to others, as a crutch for a poor vocabulary. Well, in my case, I have people around me who are very close who consider it sinful. So if I find myself in the company of rotten language ( I tend to fall victom to it, because I laugh at it )...next thing I know I'm hurting those I love.
I dunno. Kinda like every other issue that is "sin" to some and not to others - always in moderation...
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