I Have To Give That Up?!
Lent began on Wednesday. For those who don't understand what Lent is, let me explain. According to the Catholic Education Resource Center , "Lent is a special time of prayer, penance, sacrifice and good works in preparation [for] the celebration of Easter." It is roughly 40 days in length, begins with Ash Wednesday, and ends on Easter Sunday. The idea is that you do something to bring you closer to God, or at the very least, further away from something you find abhorrent. Many people erroneously believe Lent is specifically a time to "give something up." That's a pretty simplistic view of Lent. Really, you don't have to necessarily "give something up," instead, Lent is a time to make a positive change in your life. If that means giving something up, then you give something up. If it means taking something on (such as service to others), then you do that.
Recently, there was an article in the local newsrag about a group of local Mountain Crest high school students who wanted to start a no-swearing club. There was some discussion about this and what a stupid waste of time their endeavor is. In fact, there are probably some of you right now wondering what's wrong with using "real" words. The problem is, foul and filthy language actually does a serious number on your vocabulary. Trust me, I'm living proof. I used to have a stellar vocabulary and I was very proud of the fact that I could string more than a few big words together and actually manage to use them correctly. I remember once in high school I gave myself a mental pat on the back and was super excited when I used a word I had never used before and actually used it properly! I puffed up. I was verklempt! Ah, but how times change, don't they?
A while back, I found some old university term papers I had written. I found one I had written in Spring of '05 and one I had written in Spring of '06. I was shocked at the difference. I almost couldn't recognize the paper I had written in '05. It was full of lofty, academic-sounding words and had a flow that was scie ntific-abstractesque. I almost couldn't even read it! According to the computer, it was college level English. By comparison, the '06 paper was much easier to read. I recognized it immediately; it felt...comfortable. The issue is that it was barely 12th grade level English. In the space of just one year my vocabulary had dwindled to virtual nothingness. I had been using garbage language in my daily life and it had massacred my intelligence.
I applaud the kids at Mountain Crest for their desire to strive to be something more than what society deems is okay. And that's really the point here. Society no longer values education the way it used to. There was a time when most people weren't educated and they lived from hand-to-mouth (that time was known as the "Dark Ages" for a reason). Then, education became important and more and more people were educated. Life began to lighten (as in "Enlightenment" - this is a no-pun-tax zone, by the way) and the lives of many were improved. But then, for some reason (and you can see throughout history that all great empires that stopped putting emphasis on education crumbled...good lesson to learn here), education started to become a bad word...a four-letter word, even.
And look at it now! The government is cutting education funds left, right, and center. The average person now believes that teachers don't actually do anything ("what about those 3 month summer vacations, eh!"), and the get-through-school-quick mentality is wearing on the next generation. As the daughter of a retired university professor, I am very well aware that teachers work their butts off and generally get a lot of grief for their efforts. In fact, that's one of the reasons that my dad loves teaching in non-American institutions; because the students actually appreciate what he does. That's a criticism of parents too, by the way. Because children learn much of their bad behavior from their parents, if the parents are antagonistic toward education then why shouldn't their children be equally antagonistic?
A few years ago I decided to actively participate in Lent because I wanted to change some things about myself. I decided Lent would be the perfect time to do it. Two years in a row I chose to give up foul and abusive language. I had come to realize that my speech was disgusting and needed a complete overhaul. The first year it didn't go so well ("old habits..." and all that). Within the first day I'd already messed up. The problem was that I had, over the years, developed what one person called a "trucker mouth." Yeah, on a normal day I was pretty bad. If I got angry it was far worse; had I been on a TV show my dialog would have been punctuated by one long {bleeeep}.
But I persevered and by the end of Lent I had noticed a significant improvement.
Enough of an improvement that the next year I determined to do it again (backsliding, you know...it was terrible), only, this tim
e I had a companion who had decided to join me in my fight against the sewer that was running from my mouth. I did significantly better this time around, and I think it was because I had someone there working on it with me. To be sure, all Sami and I need to do is look at each other and we both know what the other is thinking (there was much pained expression exchanged between the two of us, but nothing ever escaped the confines of our thoughts). I think we had both realized that if we ever expected others to change their behavior we had to do it too - none of this, "do as I say, not as I do" business.
But I persevered and by the end of Lent I had noticed a significant improvement.
Enough of an improvement that the next year I determined to do it again (backsliding, you know...it was terrible), only, this tim
e I had a companion who had decided to join me in my fight against the sewer that was running from my mouth. I did significantly better this time around, and I think it was because I had someone there working on it with me. To be sure, all Sami and I need to do is look at each other and we both know what the other is thinking (there was much pained expression exchanged between the two of us, but nothing ever escaped the confines of our thoughts). I think we had both realized that if we ever expected others to change their behavior we had to do it too - none of this, "do as I say, not as I do" business.
Recently, there was an article in the local newsrag about a group of local Mountain Crest high school students who wanted to start a no-swearing club. There was some discussion about this and what a stupid waste of time their endeavor is. In fact, there are probably some of you right now wondering what's wrong with using "real" words. The problem is, foul and filthy language actually does a serious number on your vocabulary. Trust me, I'm living proof. I used to have a stellar vocabulary and I was very proud of the fact that I could string more than a few big words together and actually manage to use them correctly. I remember once in high school I gave myself a mental pat on the back and was super excited when I used a word I had never used before and actually used it properly! I puffed up. I was verklempt! Ah, but how times change, don't they?
A while back, I found some old university term papers I had written. I found one I had written in Spring of '05 and one I had written in Spring of '06. I was shocked at the difference. I almost couldn't recognize the paper I had written in '05. It was full of lofty, academic-sounding words and had a flow that was scie ntific-abstractesque. I almost couldn't even read it! According to the computer, it was college level English. By comparison, the '06 paper was much easier to read. I recognized it immediately; it felt...comfortable. The issue is that it was barely 12th grade level English. In the space of just one year my vocabulary had dwindled to virtual nothingness. I had been using garbage language in my daily life and it had massacred my intelligence.
It's been a few years since my little experiment and a long row to hoe, but I finally feel like my brains are regenerating from the severe atrophy they had sustained due to my willingness, nay desire, to use nasty verbiage. I'm not back to "normal" yet, but I'm getting a little closer every day. It's no longer quite such a challenge to produce intelligent sentences; I can come up with more than one way to say things. I still use those words every now and then (I'm not completely cured) but they are not the sum total of my speech anymore.
I applaud the kids at Mountain Crest for their desire to strive to be something more than what society deems is okay. And that's really the point here. Society no longer values education the way it used to. There was a time when most people weren't educated and they lived from hand-to-mouth (that time was known as the "Dark Ages" for a reason). Then, education became important and more and more people were educated. Life began to lighten (as in "Enlightenment" - this is a no-pun-tax zone, by the way) and the lives of many were improved. But then, for some reason (and you can see throughout history that all great empires that stopped putting emphasis on education crumbled...good lesson to learn here), education started to become a bad word...a four-letter word, even.
And look at it now! The government is cutting education funds left, right, and center. The average person now believes that teachers don't actually do anything ("what about those 3 month summer vacations, eh!"), and the get-through-school-quick mentality is wearing on the next generation. As the daughter of a retired university professor, I am very well aware that teachers work their butts off and generally get a lot of grief for their efforts. In fact, that's one of the reasons that my dad loves teaching in non-American institutions; because the students actually appreciate what he does. That's a criticism of parents too, by the way. Because children learn much of their bad behavior from their parents, if the parents are antagonistic toward education then why shouldn't their children be equally antagonistic?
Let's start changing the world by changing the way we speak to each other. Until Easter Sunday I challenge you all to refrain from using foul and/or abusive language. Try it out and see if you don't feel smarter.
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