Live Generously

You can certainly file this one away in the “odd news stories” category. South Pasadena, California, (the town right next door to the town where I go to school) has declared the first week of March “No Cussing Week”. The article linked above is certainly worth reading, as it is quite cleverly written.

The idea for “No Cussing Week” apparently came from a 14-year-old who has become fed up with the potty mouth that surrounds him at his junior high school. He and some friends started a “No Cussing Club” on his campus, and now the club has over 10,000 members spread throughout all 50 states, and they even have their own website. The founder, McKay Hatch, has been interviewed on several television news networks, and has received a commendation from the Los Angeles County Supervisor. The mission of the group is summed up in their motto, “Leave people better than you found them.”

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what to think of all of this. I virtually never use profanity that wouldn’t be allowed in a PG movie (and try my best to limit even those words), and I generally find excessive profanity to be distasteful. I say this only to show the perspective I’m coming from, and I certainly don’t mean to imply that my avoidance of profanity gives me any moral superiority. In my past I have been guilty of casting ridiculous amounts of judgment upon those who regularly cuss (I even referred to people who cuss regularly as “second class citizens” in an editorial in high school…not my proudest moment). While excessively judging those who cuss is foolish, I think there is something to be said for the notion that cussing, in certain settings, suggests a lack of intelligence. In high school I had an acquaintance who told me that he was trying to stop cussing for that very reason.

I believe, however, that the issue with profanity is something far deeper than what it says about a person’s intellect. In my view, and I know there are many who would disagree, the language one uses is more of a heart issue. To that end, I don’t particularly concern myself with the language that those around me use. In my mind, to correct someone’s language is to put a band-aid on a knife wound. Many of the students in our college group play Ultimate Frisbee with a group of people who are often quite liberal in their use of profanity, and I specifically remind our students that they aren’t the “potty mouth police”, and they should avoid correcting the language of those around them. Instead, they themselves ought to focus on playing fair and modeling sportsmanship, compassion, and more edifying language and conduct. The reality is that no one likes having their language corrected, and attempts to do so either a) don’t work, or b) work, but fail to address the real issue. The real issue is that there is anger, bitterness, and resentment in the heart of one who uses angry language (not just profanity), and that, ultimately, is what must be addressed. As Christians we, unfortunately, often attempt to claim some sort of moral superiority because we don’t use profanity, while our more socially acceptable words express the same sentiment and thus reflect the same heart condition. I am certainly guilty of this.

With all of that said, I don’t think I can agree with those that say cussing just “isn’t that big of a deal.” I find this argument to be particularly prevalent amongst Christians who casually swear. While it is socially constructed, I believe it is a big deal simply because it rehearses anger. In one of his books, John Ortberg critiques the helpfulness of “blowing off steam” using that same rationale. Using profane language and expressing anger doesn’t free us from anger, but rather it rehearses and reinforces it. Furthermore, I believe that cussing reflects a sort cultural individualism that tells us that we can say “whatever we want”. While legally this is true, I would suggest that in practice this sort of thinking is very damaging. Paul says, in admittedly a different context, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful” (1 Cor. 6:12). That statement sums up the argument I am trying to make here, and I believe it sums up the mission of the “No Cussing Club” (although they are a secular organization). We all have the right to use whatever language we want to use, but we all ought to take the social responsibility to use our words to add value to others. That ought to take precedence over exercising personal freedom, and living by that sort of ethic requires significant conscious effort. All this to say that the point of not cussing isn’t simply to avoid what is “bad”, but to instead focus on using one’s words for the good of others. That takes us back to the fact that this ultimately isn’t a language issue as much as it is a heart issue.

There are those who will hear of “No Cussing Week”, will see the club’s website, and even might read what I’m writing and scoff and how elitist and judgmental it all sounds. I’ll admit, on the surface it does all sound obnoxiously elitist, and it does seem like there is a big deal being made over a seemingly insignificant issue. My hope is simply that all of us, regardless of our reaction to all of this, will do the work of reflecting on the all of the words that we use and considering how we can use those words to add value.

This issue, of course, brings up all sorts of potential questions. Do you cuss often? Why or why not? Is it acceptable for Christians to cuss? I know many who cuss quite regularly and I’m not entirely sure what to think of it. How can we go about promoting more positive language without appearing elitist or judgmental? Am I off base in saying that language is really a heart issue? Those are just a few questions that come to mind and there are certainly many others.

In other news, while I am not a Mike Huckabee apologist, I did find this article by Jim Wallis about Huckabee interesting. Many of Huckabees ideas, as Wallis suggests, do indeed serve as evidence that the monologue of the Religious Right is over. Also, my former college pastor Rhett Smith has done some interesting non-political posts on why young people tend to like Barack Obama that are very much worth reading.