"S!#%," I yelled as I hopped around on one foot after kicking the table leg
with my big toe. Meanwhile, from the Kiddo's room, I hear him yell out,"Word!"
Several days later, driving home from the store, I was cut off by a gentleman who could not decide if he wanted onto the highway or not. At the last minute, he veered across the white hashed lines in front of me.
"You have got to be frickin' kidding me!" I yelled at him through my front
window as I was forced to slam on my brakes. From the back seat,
I heard the Kiddo say,"Word," but did not really pay any attention.
I continued to rant and rave about "idiot drivers," and how "stupid people"
should not be allowed to drive. From the back,
I was interrupted as the Kiddo said much more loudly,"Word! That's two!"
Suddenly, his single word admonishment hit me. After talking to him to verify my suspicions that he was, in fact, chastising me, my son made me aware of my increasing use of mean words and bad language over the past several months. He is really bothered by it.
So today, when I used another bad word ("sucks" to be exact) and he called me on it, I asked him how I could have said that differently.
He came up with a whole slew of phrases that I could have used that convey the same message... Figures- I was hoping to catch him off guard.
Today, I asked him why using this slang, and (I agree) ugly language, bothered him so much.
His answer,"Using bad language is just laziness."
Big -no, huge- stinging slap in my face, as I too believe that the excessive use of swear words, of ugly language, and slang is just laziness, and reflects poorly on the person using that language. Granted, I have friends who see nothing wrong with profanity, and I have discussed this difference in opinion in great depth with some of them, and we have agreed to disagree. I also have to say this: swear words do not "offend" me. Frankly, I really do think the use of vulgarity is a sign of contempt for other people, lack of respect for other people, a sign of being uneducated (though I KNOW this is not always the case). Whatever, I cannot control how other people choose to speak, and I do not wish to - except in regards to my son, of course. ((I cannot say it enough that MY convictions are not intended to be YOUR convictions. That is not how God works in our lives.))
For me, however, I truly am convicted- AGAIN!
Wow! The Lord really is working on me and showing me so many errors in my life and my habits. I realized after talking to the Kiddo that my life has been so crazy the past few months, that I have allowed myself to get caught up in all the things that do not matter, and I have allowed myself to get lazy in areas that DO matter in an effort to "fix" all those things that do not. That does not excuse my poor taste in language. No way...
And so, I am going to be working on my language---every time I say an ugly word, every time I share some verbal-vomit, I have asked my Kiddo to continue to hold me accountable.
No doubt, he will. :) I just hope a LOT less!
