PRE-SCRIPT - I'm not claiming to be right. I'm not claiming perfection. You all know my blogs are a journey into my brain and how I think. I know I do things that I rail against on occasion. Oh...and there might be some words you may not like in here. Just a heads up.
I had a conversation today with someone whose opinions and viewpoints I value highly. We were talking about foul language. And really, what makes it foul. And if it is appropriate or inappropriate. So yes, there will be words used in this blog that you might not be used to hearing from me. I choose not to think much about those words, but try my best to be respectful of others and the audience I am around. I try, but it's hard for me to understand why a word could be so bad to someone. I understand in the case of calling someone a name and being rude to someone. I don't agree with that at all. I try to be peaceful with everyone if possible and think the best of them. So I don't see a need to call names. I think the reason many people think these words are offensive stems from what they were taught. So if you disagree with me, I get that. I understand. And it's ok.
Growing up, I wasn't allowed to say Mario "died" while playing nintendo. He got caught. I wasn't allowed to say fart, shut up or crap. Toot, be quiet and poop was acceptable. They all mean the same things. I think I grew up resentful that I couldn't say crap when it meant the same thing as poop. Like the word piss, right Tony?
I certainly hope no one makes a judgement about the content of ones character based on the language that they use. To some, words are words. They don't know any different. That way I choose to ignore a word if someone uses it and I don't like it. There is one exception to this rule. We all know what it is. It starts with N. I have a zero tolerance policy on that one. I do think that was a valid point. If someone who doesn't know me hears me say the word shit, for example, it might turn them off and they won't hear anything else I say. Because to them it's not appropriate. I get that. But they shouldn't allow a word to hold that much weight. We will always offend someone whether we intend to or not. But we can choose to be offended or not.
I have some other points and I've discussed this previously. It's a conversation that happens a lot actually. There have even been a few people that have called me out based on a few colorful words I've said on facebook. What about replacements? When it's 5 degrees outside.... The shiver....It's so freakin cold out! You could say that at a church retreat. But drop the f bomb and it's like you dropped the A bomb. To me, they are one in the same. In that context. Forgot something after you are a mile down the road and it's second nature to let out an audible "CRAAAAAP!". But you'd never say shit. That would be bad. I know what you're thinking...."That's a bunch of bull." Why didn't you finish it? Even if you audibly say FINISH IT, you said shit. It's the same as poop or crap.
*This is my dream world section* I'm still not saying I'm ok with a bunch of 4 year olds going around using words like this. But then again....who makes them bad words? They certainly don't. What if instead of teaching what words are bad we stopped making those words bad. Punching someone in the face. That's bad. Date rape, that's bad. Any rape, that's bad too. Treating people as property, that's bad. What if a child said, "daddy, there's a shit in my diaper!"? What if we treated that the same as if he said poop? I believe that could happen. But I'm not holding my breath.
At the end of the day, I don't really care what words you use. It's not until you'd use those words in a derogatory way at another person where I draw the line. But I'd also draw the line if you were mean to another person and you didn't use "those" words either. So basically....it still doesn't matter what words you use. It all comes down to how you treat people. While you may have a responsibility to use certain words depending on your audience, the audience also has a responsibility to not judge someone based upon the words they use. We are more than our words. We are more than our appearance.
