When Words Define (Out of the Mouth...)

We had a discussion at lunch this week. By we, I mean a group of guys who pretty much all hold the same standards with regards to morals and things spiritual. The discussion somehow turned to music and in particular secular rap music. I don't know if my age is showing, but one of the younger guys at the table (who by the way agreed that much of what we hear in rap and much of the rock music these days is objectionable) seemed to be less phased by it all. Is it that as our society changes, we become more DE-sensitized? I say yes.

Now, I'm really no prude but it really gets to me when all around I have to not only subject my own ears, but the ears of my children to filthy, profane, sexually explicit language and even violent rap "lyrics" coming from idling cars in parking lots, mouths of teens hanging out in shopping malls and even parents scolding their kids in public.

To be sure every culture has its "profane" language and my goal in writing this is not to become the speech police by any means. My observation however is that even in my lifetime and most certainly in the time of my parents and grandparents, the language an increasing amount of people use "in public" without a second thought is more profane than ever. It used to be heard mostly by men and always in the company of ONLY MEN, rarely around women and NEVER around children. Now, even the "children" use the language. The words we use to communicate thoughts, ideas, frustrations, any emotion for that matter says volumes about us as a people. We have children, many of whom can't even conjugate a verb or properly punctuate a sentence communicating with each other in a vulgar sub-language that not only demeans others, but dumbs down our society all together.

It should be easy to see that our everyday language only reflects our cultural erosion. Just today, Fox News reported on a recent survey conducted by researchers at University of East Anglia in Norwich, U.K. They say a leadership study found the use of "taboo language" made the workplace more tolerable? Great, now we're being told it's not only OK to use foul language, it's healthy!

Who is to blame? What's to blame? Dr. Bill Cosby recently spoke about the lions share of the responsibility falling on parents. The entertainer has been at the center of a racially charged controversy since he ridiculed the poor grammar of some blacks. "I can't even talk the way these people talk, 'Why you ain't,' 'Where you is' ... and I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk," Cosby said in Washington, D.C. at an event marking the anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education desegregation ruling. Dr. Cosby went on to say: "The more you invest in your child, the more you are not going to let some CD tell your child how to curse and how to say the word 'n---r.' This is an accepted word. You are so hip with 'n---r,' but you can't even spell it," But this is not an problem exclusive to the black community. All of us need to take heed. Our children hear how we speak, they listen and simply repeat. Parents need to set the standards in the home.

My fear is that it will only get worse. When I hear young children curse and parents laugh it off. When teenagers, with no regard to anyone around them talk trash with each other; what words will their children and grandchildren use to communicate?

Someone much wiser put it this way: "Out of the abundance of the heart we speak" (Matthew 12:34). Jesus Christ said this over 2000 years ago. He spoke in terms of a vessel filling up with whatever has been poured into it and in turn overflowing. Laws of nature tell us that at some point what is in the vessel as it fills, will eventually overflow and it just so happens most of the time the outlet is our mouth.

Our words reflect our hearts. Guard your heart and that of your children?

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