TheBanyanTree: I've Been Thinking...

[Pam North]

...which can sometimes be scary I'm aware... but more often than not
just causes me to start typing!  ;-)

I've got a new SSgt of my very own to train.  He is a
really nice, easygoing guy, totally devoted to his wife and three
children - which immediately makes him a hero in my book.  He is also
a fine example of a 'Christian', which he professes to be, and
actually practices.

When he first started working with me I figured it would be a great
time to start watching my mouth.  I didn't want him to have to work
somewhere listening to things that he found offensive, and I really
didn't *need* to swear so much anyway.  So, with hardly any effort,
I've cleaned up my act and have been practicing my "gosh" and "golly
gees"!

No matter how frustrated he gets though, it never seems to show
through.  Yesterday he spent hours working on a spreadsheet for a
report while he had several programs/files open on his computer.  When
he went to close it out he was distracted/confused and told the
computer that 'no', he didn't want to save changes.  So after all that
work, he lost everything.  And he was smiling!!  "OH!  MY!  NOOOOO!"
That's it!  He is a very positive example in my day.  He just doesn't
say anything bad about anything or ANYbody!

So yesterday I asked, "SSgt, sometimes you just gotta call a spade a
spade, even if  it means saying somebody is a complete moron!"  And he
told me, "Well, the Bible says we shouldn't let unwholesome talk come
from our mouths...".  I told him 'no way'!  I never heard that.  He
said that yes, he was pretty sure it was in the Book of Peter.  And I
said, "Peter?!  Who reads that?  Sure Genesis, Revelations, and maybe
even Matthew and Mark.  But Peter?!  That's somewhere in the middle!
Nobody reads all *those* Books!!"

He laughed with me, and then this morning emailed the true quote -
from Ephesians, actually, "Do no let any unwholesome talk come out of
your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according
to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

Wow!  Now, my dad (who probably wouldn't have recognized a Bible if
somebody had smacked him up aside the head with one!) always said, "If
you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all", and
I'm thinking that it's basically the same thing.

So, forget Christianity, forget the Bible.  We had Charlie James (my
dad, not someone anybody would ever had mistaken for a Christian)
saying we shouldn't talk ugly.

So if we (Twiglets, Tree dwellers, North Carolinians, Americans,
Children of God, creatures on this planet, all and everyone of us)
only spoke wholesomely - and not just about others, but talking
positively to *benefit* who we were talking to... how quiet would it
be?

If I want to say somebody is a 'moron' because they have screwed up
the same thing five times, does the person I'm saying it to gain
anything from that?  Do they agree?  Disagree?  Feel better about life
in general?  What have I gained?  Or do *I* feel better about myself
because *I* am obviously not the moron and I would *never* do anything
so dumb or moronic ever in my life?

Hmmm.....

So now, I'm going to try it.  I'm going to see if I can go the whole
day and only say good, positive stuff.  I've already been practicing
on my SSgt.  He was screening paperwork this morning and missed some
things.  I didn't want to tell him he missed them (negative) or that
he wasn't focusing (or something - also negative), so I said, "Hmm.
SSgt, you are already catching more stuff than somebody else who has
only been doing this for a few weeks, and I am very impressed with
your knowledge."

Ya, it sounded that stilted and forced when I said it too.  Obviously
I am going to need a *lot* of practice so that the positive will more
freely flow off my tongue....  Wish me luck!

Pam (done thinking and typing for now)  ;-D