I don't know if this is just me or if many of you feel the same way, but I feel like lately we have forgotten how to behave in public. What I am thinking about is what we say and more importantly the words we choose to utter. It seems like this week everywhere I go, I hear profanity. Not simply some expletives when someone is hurt or angry, but the big boys: F-bomb, S-bomb and G..D… and the worst of it, I hear them coming out of kids' mouths.
I started thinking about this when I was at the Skate Park with Jake and Ean on Sunday morning. It was perfect outside and there were not that many skaters. There were a couple of guys with their little kids teaching them to skate. There were folks cruising around and then there was this group of about 7 or 8 young teens. And they were swearing at the top of their lungs and I was uncomfortable. Crass speech by itself does not really bother me. What bothered me was that these young men had no idea that what they were doing was inappropriate. There was no consideration for those who really did not want to hear it.
I can remember the first time I heard an adult swear. My mom never did around me. My dad would yell out J____C___ when he would get really riled up, but that was it. I knew all the words that there were to know when my dad took me to work one day. My dad's office was right next to the restroom and water fountain. Sitting in his office waiting for him to get done, I would overhear many conversations. This one guy came up, a retired admiral or some such of a thing and every other word was profane. Even at a young age I thought that this was really dumb. Dumb to be swearing in an office and dumb to be swearing when you weren't even mad and dumb to be swearing in front of someone's kid. I thought then that this was really bad behavior and I was not that good of a kid.
This sense of courtesy is still with me I guess. As I was talking to one of the guys with his two year old son at the skate park I could see that he too was bothered by the kids' language. But neither of us went over and talked to the boys about it, although now I wish that I had, simply to make them aware that their words were bothering someone. When I go to Jake's school I hear swearing by all the kids. I am told that the teachers and staff also carry on their day with a regular use of profanity with no concern for the listener. This is troubling to me. I think it is telling that in our society common civility is deteriorating.
I am not a prude, or maybe I am, but I really don't want to hear foul language. It does not shock or offend me, I simply don't want to hear it. I remember when everyone used to smoke with no concern for those around them, how times have changed. I wonder what our world and our city would be like if we made an effort not to clutter the air with destructive sounds. What would our city be like if we decided to fill the air with words of encouragement, words that lifted up and did not tear down?
I think I will start with me. This day I will choose what I say carefully and hopefully that will become contagious.
Ps 19:14
4 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
NIV
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