Election 2014 – Midterms

www.yahoo.com

Congratulations to the winners, and condolences to the also-rans. The voters spoke again – well, those who showed up to vote.  The sad news is perhaps only 38% of the population turned out.

You non-voters could have really upset all the prognosticators – and made them rethink their tealeaves! But you didn’t. Did you think all their punditry discounted your one little old vote? For those who did not stir their stumps, shame on you! 

And now for all you winners – some of whom were my choices – watch what you say today -- which might mean check your heart, and think about the bigger picture!

Think about all the people who voted – and those who skipped the ballot box, who still do not understand the power and privilege and responsibly  they could have exercised. 

Remember you exultant winners you have been given an opportunity to serve more than your own constituency – you have nothing to lord over anybody! Nor should you fear the media who may want you to fail.     

Finally, unless we all learn to listen to each other, no victory – however stunning – matters.   And unless we learn that, our national political, cultural and religious heritage, mixed bag that it is, is worth preserving, reforming and passing along to the next generation nobody won anything.

Morning Coffee Quarterbacking

 The Presidential Debate-Round Two – My concerns have not changed.

I Can't Be Out of Money!

September 11 – Anticipation and Remembrance

from Chick and Ruth's Deli 

A little proverb warns, “Never look back unless you want to go that way.”  While I can see its wisdom – driving with my eyes on the rear-view mirror is a sure way to crash the car – I opened the spiral journal notebook I kept from June through December 2001.

I have kept journals since 1989.  Back then, a friend, Nina Martin, urged me to try “journaling” as an exercise to keep in step with all God was doing. She was right. Not that any of my journals could propel me into a list of prominent diarists; they do show God’s faithfulness in the good times and those not so good times; they also show God’s forbearance in my faithlessness.  Given that some have said we are in a war that may well continue through this century*  – what do I see from back then, that helps today?

 In the weeks leading up to that Tuesday in September of 2001, I was busy, worried, and distracted.  Oh, I was definitely in my Martha - mode, deeply persuaded I could manage all that was on my plate – and confident of my own understanding of many things. I was rereading The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer, and the sermon that Sunday before 9/11/01 was taken from 2 John – the gist of it was love must-needs be informed by truth, and truth controlled by love. 

Looking back, through the lens of thirteen years of wars with Islamic extremists, pursuing God is still hard, and I still need  the Apostle John’s warning:

-- ⁵ I am writing to remind you, dear friends,  that we should love one another. This is not a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning. ⁶ Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.

⁷ I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. They deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist. ⁸ Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve. Be diligent so that you receive your full reward. ⁹ Anyone who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God. But anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship with both the Father and the Son.

Why do I want to relive the days leading up to and after 9/11/01?  I don’t want to forget.  I want to remember how quickly life changes.

I never want to forget the people who died, the first responders, and the folks who lived through being attacked.   And I don’t want to take for granted the ongoing suffering of our Armed Forces. If the memory of 9/11/01 is burned into my brain – images from television – what is in their heart and mind after multiple deployments into combat? 

And I don’t want to forget the question a friend asked – You are religious, how could God have allowed this?

It still has something to do with the unfolding story of an infinite, personal God – a battle in the heavenlies, beyond our awareness, and one that is a manifestation of God’s  last confrontation with a defeated foe, whose powers are real. 

Nor, do I want to forget the resolve of Islamic radicals.

What has changed in these thirteen years, is that those who embrace Christ in the Middle East are being martyred for their faithfulness –as are thousand and thousands of other human beings who do not believe in the Islamic religion of an expanding and powerful force, feared to be international in its reach. 

I actually thought in those early days of September I understood what suffering was like.

I did not.

It’s one thing to join the moving chorus of “Lift High the Cross” in the safety of a crowded sanctuary, it’s another to read that people have been  crucified even this summer! The threat we face now  gives a whole new meaning to Christ’s question, “Who do you say I am?” (Mark 8:29; Matthew 16:10; Luke 9:20)

And those who could commit such cruelty, are they the ones I am to love?

So I have prayed this: "Father, please turn these oppressors from evil, to You. Also, please destroy those of them who refuse to turn. May we who are blessed with freedom do our best to protect and defend their intended victims and provide them safe haven." (This Is a Test)

___________________________________________

 * Former Australian army chief Peter Leahy recently called this “the early stages of a war which is likely to last for the rest of the century. We must be ready to protect ourselves and, where necessary, act pre-emptively to neutralize the evident threat. Get ready for a long war.” (Michael Gerson, This War Will Look Familiar)  

Three Simple Sentences

From the mouth of a fictional character came the best three-sentence summary of who I want to be:

You is kind. You is smart. You is important.

(Aibileen Clark The Help)

And that those whom I love and treasure would know they are kind, smart and important.

How much better our mental and emotional health would be if this is what we believed about ourselves!

It’s easy to encourage those I love with this wisdom – not so much with those who annoy, frustrate or infuriate me. I often have difficulty extending to this description to those with whom I disagree.  I don’t think they are kind, smart, or important!  

Yet, the tender resolve with which Aibileen often spoke these simple truths – a woman who had endured humiliating cruelty – to strengthen the heart of a little girl whose cowardly mom inflicted great harm upon Mae,  illuminated and illustrated a Scripture I can recite but fail often to live:

Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others.

Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.

(Philippians 2:3)

   

It wasn’t a suggestion – He urged them, who by the way, were in the midst of hard times, to practice these principles.   J. B. Phillips’ translation puts some flesh on the bare bones of Paul’s exhortation.

 Never act from motives of rivalry or personal vanity, but in humility think more of each other than you do of yourselves. None of you should think only of his own affairs, but should learn to see things from other people’s point of view.

Three simple sentences that could renew our personal well-being; truth that might reawaken and restore marriages, or revitalize our parenting routines, or help us grow old more gracefully.  And just perhaps, this attitude might rescue the downward slide of political discourse!

Can you imagine how our conversations around the dinner table or in the US Capitol might change if we regarded those who frustrate us with the conviction, You is Kind. You is Smart. You is Important.

My Humble Review: 

The Help

Memorial Day 2014: Do Away With Government Tenure

I have the impression Americans are more concerned with our rights to pursue our private happiness, than we are with our shared responsibilities to preserve the rights to life and liberty. 

I had the impression that the government and the military would manage the store, so to speak, so that I could spend my life pursuing my goals – and yes, I have read history, and the newspapers.  But knowledge and understanding are not synonymous. 

I had the impression that voting other people into and out of their elected offices would be sufficient oil to keep the mechanisms running in our national, state and local governments. I had no understanding of the power of salaried government workers who formed unions.

But I am beginning to see that it is the rare elected official who can wield power and change what he or she promised to change. I have the distinct impression that it is not our elected officials who govern us – it is the bureaucracy we have permitted them to establish and fund.  

I have the impression that our local, state and national governments exercise the kinds of power that the aristocracy wielded, with about the same amount of concern for us as the landed “lords” had for their vassals.   

Alas, I also have  gained the impression that living on other people’s money is a widespread and accepted notion – from the oldest of us to the youngest. I know like my little checks and perks!   

• It's not an endlessly expanding list of rights — the 'right' to education, the 'right' to health care, the 'right' to food and housing. That's not freedom, that's dependency. Those aren't rights, those are the rations of slavery — hay and a barn for human cattle. P. J. O'Rourke, in Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut‎ (1996), p. 227

And in the past year, I have the impression that our government’s departments and agencies, have stumbled – badly.  They have done stuff they should not have done, and left undone a bunch of stuff they should have. And I have the impression that finding the underlying cause of messes and holding people accountable may be a bitter political battle.      

Thank God, we can [still] have the political battle!

I hope the press will quit its partisan shilling; that our politicians will govern instead of campaign and that they take on the establishment of tenured employees,  a few too many of whom are not embarrassed about their work!

On this Memorial Day, I am grateful for those whose blood and suffering secured the peace and safety in which I have lived.  And I am ashamed and grieved how we are not keeping our promises to the military.  

The following quote – inaccurately attributed to  Alexis de Tocqueville -- touched me deeply years ago – building the impression that our moral fiber mattered:

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers - and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce - and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution - and it vas not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.  

My more fervent hope is that God, who has opened men and women’s minds to see that it is He who gives us our daily bread, and delivers us from evil, will wake up His church in this great nation once again.  Then perhaps we can help America wake up to what is happening to us.  

Reform Their Entitlements -- Not Mine! 

 A New Form of Slavery

Sign Up Today

You will have health insurance!

Actually, we aren’t sure what we will have – for what is on paper has never been done in America. It will not be free – or uncomplicated, and it will not be the end of the world, although the Affordable Care Act will change forever how we care for each other in the country. (As did Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and indoor plumbing.)

The November issue of Consumer Reports has an informative article on the new law. (As well as information about long-term health care choices) These folks also have created an online guide:HealthLawHelper.org. 

Seeing the problems inherent in government –run insurance programs, such as Social Security Disability, I believe that the Affordable Care Act may offer help, but it will also bring complications, delays, and inequalities that can frustrate sick people and their loved ones. 

The times in which we live are indeed interesting – reminiscent of what the prophet Isaiah saw. (Isaiah 10)  Whichever side of this divisive issue you stand, please remember your health is a gift, as is your life.  So, too, the length of your days, and your children’s days – even the best insurance program will never add a minute to it.  And pray for your leaders – all of them, even the ones with whom you disagree. (2 Chronicles 7, especially  verse 14)

How About the Weather?

Last night, temperatures plunged in Dallas – the coldest night for May 2 in decades.

Up until recently, the weather has been a safe conversational subject – Henry Higgins thought so anyway.  (Act 3, Pygmalion, a.k.a. My Fair Lady) But now, it   seems a hotter subject than religion or politics; we may have a new triumvirate of topics that divide us.  Discussing the weather can quickly generate more heat than a summer’s afternoon in Texas. But, it’s chilly now, that’s sure – thanks to something that blew through.

Yes – the fake fireplace is crackling!

 Since science was never my strong suit, my opinion on weather is only that – my opinion. I don’t believe while we can destroy the planet – but we sure can make messes in our corner of creation that are without excuse – making life harder for other people, critters and plants.  We were supposed to care for creation – but trying to be like God hasn’t been working out so well for the creation or us.

An obliging voice  - perhaps because of his accent – offers a way that makes sense to me. Jeremy Irons shows us the consequence of all our carelessness, and is determined we can and must do better with trash disposal.   In an interview on the CBS Morning Show he said: 

"I don't believe we're doomed because I believe that human nature is extraordinary," Irons said. " I think we will be brought to our senses eventually. I think things may have to get worse. I think, I hope we will be brought to our senses. We're on a highway to a very expensive and unhealthy future if we do nothing."

"And gloomy future," Smith [the reporter] added.

"Well, the sun will still shine," Irons replied.

Looking forward – well, not really – but am confident that Mr. Irons’ new film,

TRASHED: No Place for Waste will be a worthwhile contributor to a critical conversation, no matter the weather.

Jeremy Irons' environmental documentary "Trashed" addresses the pressing problem of garbage. (Belnheim FIlms)

Numbers We Can Address

Twenty-nine percent of white children, 53% of Hispanics

and 

73% of black children are born to unmarried women.

No Dad, Big Problem

The absence of a husband and father from the home is a strong contributing factor to 

poverty, school failure, crime, drug abuse, emotional disturbance and a host of other social problems. (Article)

Thirty years ago, when we first got involved helping unmarried women cope with unplanned pregnancies, the “professionals” said many of these young women who found themselves expecting a baby outside of marriage had broken relationships with their dads.   In those three decades, marriages have had a harder time holding together, and because of government subsidies, single parenting is the alternative to abortion or adoption or coerced marriages.

While we have helped women to survive – how are we helping the children to live without their fathers?

Or, do fathers matter so much in a child’s development? 

First based on personal observation, dads were more fun than moms. They do neat  flying tricks with itty-bitty babies. They can break mom-rules that kids can’t. They aren’t so uptight about mud and messes. They like to cook junk food and are more ready to go to McDonald’s than moms ever are. They will play video games with their kids, and the stories they tell of their growing –up adventures are often way more fun than moms’ stories about ballet recitals.  Their stories even make moms laugh – nervously.

But dads were also tougher, using far fewer words than moms. They don’t count to three; they issue one word commands in voices that send budding debaters scurrying. In the middle of the might, in the middle of a nightmare, dads seem bigger than any monsters who may have snuck under the bed.

But dads without moms aren’t any more super-powered than moms without dads.  Kids need a man and a woman even to have been created; how much more do little folk need both parents to grow up?

God bless the woman who has the courage to give her child life; God help us help her to raise that child – making us kind and encouraging. But God show us how to help boys become men who love and cherish the lives they create.    

Right now, there are fathers who have bolted from their daughters and sons. To an increasing number of men, the children they create are as notches on a gun, and the women seem to be powerless to persuade them otherwise. So little girls grow up, seeking a man’s approval, and settling for rough approximations; little boys grow up without a man’s guidance, and settle for cheap imitations. 

And single moms often break down under a load that is meant to be shared. 

Broken relationships with dads – whether they are corporate executives, Hollywood glamour-types, preachers, or drifters – have sharp edges that cut children’s hearts, and wound many others. Thirty years or more years of encouraging the brokenness isn’t making stronger or better communities.  

·      He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.  ~ Clarence Budington Kelland   

·      One father is more than a hundred Schoolemasters.  ~George Herbert, Outlandish Proverbs, 1640

·      Fathers represent another way of looking at life - the possibility of an alternative dialogue.  ~Louise J. Kaplan, Oneness and Separateness: From Infant to Individual, 1978

What’s the conversation we need to be having . . . first, in the church? We can’t offer much to social policy, until we are proving it is a good plan amongst ourselves.

More Light is Worth the Risk

We had four wood panels cut out of our front door, replacing them with glass. We wanted more sunlight in our living room, even as we realized that replacing solid wood with glass might increase the risk of a break-in. But more light is worth it.

I wish cutting through the wall of political rhetoric this campaign year to get light were as easy – because we need some light if we are going to survive and prosper as a nation, and as individuals.  If the 2012 campaign ads or stump speeches were only what we read – or heard – it looks like our choice the first Tuesday in November will be between a possible felon and a proven socialist – each and both have agendas to destroy the country they seek to govern; both candidates are incompetent and dishonest, according to their opponents’ assessment.

I wonder how either man made it so far. 

Since none of the candidates, their surrogates or the media is willing to talk about real stuff, how can we choose good leaders?   And even if we threw every incumbent out of office this year – what about the bureaucrats, local, state and national, who keep the government growing? How will elected officials rein in this run-away horse? 

Too many of us throw up our hands and refuse to vote -- Dr. Tony Evans said that Christians can and must vote this year. For whom or how, he did not spell out.  He recommended that voters should spell out what we think the issues are; figure out what the party positions are and what the candidates are saying; line the concerns and contenders with what we know Scripture says about issues and actions – and speech. 

That’s the hard part – what does the Bible say about a nation’s deficit spending, national debt, and war; or, its character, prosperity and peace?

Christians understand that God spoke on many of the topics convulsing us today – even if they bother us. (Mark Twain) 

·      We know God has shown His people what is good and what He requires. (Micah 6:8)

·      He’s warned His people not to call good evil, or evil good.  (Isaiah 5:20)

·      He warned against racism. (Colossians 3:11)

·      He also had some advice about money. (Borrowing)

·      He was specific also about caring for the wounded – afflicted and alien.

·      Even more – He told His people how they should behave. (The Beatitudes)

Not all Americans agree on a hierarchy of challenges we face – mine may not be yours, dear reader, but perhaps a few will resonate – the economy, welfare and healthcare reform and expansion are huge challenges.  I am listening for a few topics – and I believe Scripture has wisdom here, even for a nation that is not Christian.

·      Putting people to work in jobs that enable us to provide for our families and contribute to our communities and country is unquestionably a top issue.

·      People who won’t work forfeit the right to eat; people who can’t work need our help.

·      So, then, feeding the hungry, and sheltering the poor is what Americans do.

- Is increasing food stamps the best way?

- Is the housing we offer safe, or economical?

·      Also, we must overhaul the health care system – so that we can care for the least of our citizens, with the care we would have for ourselves.

Just as bringing more light through our front door could be risky, it could be risky if the candidates became more transparent -- if both sides laid out their qualifications and ideas, simply, and quit demonizing each other.  But light can be so worth the risk!

Stopping the hurtful, ad hominem or straw man attacks voters hear 24/7 might even give the candidates and their backers the breathing space to think about how they can collaborate with government bureaucracies and other power interests, to govern. Then, we, the voters and citizens of this great nation, might have time to think about what we can do to tackle issues – and quit looking for knights on white horses to save us from ourselves.   And then, maybe the media’s talking heads and pundits would finally get real jobs.


 Article from FactCheck

Reflections, Albeit Slightly Muddled Ones

This morning’s blog walking has been edifying – especially when one written across the pond reminded me of Annapolis.  The Christian Quoter quoted George Bancroft – the father of the United States Naval Academy.  And one quote smartly summarized a week’s worth of news:    

The prejudices of ignorance are more easily removed than the prejudices of interest; the first are all blindly adopted, the second willfully preferred.  George Bancroft (source)

Did he have a crystal ball? That maxim lends a perspective on today’s troubles and trials, from the Middle East to a few Supreme Court rulings, and to some local Texas shenanigans!  Last night I caught an interview on Cspan with Gretchen Morgenson by Brian Lamb about her book, Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon. Not that I understood everything, but I understood enough to be disheartened, again.

Just in time for our great nation’s 236^th birthday.

A beloved friend or family member’s birthday anniversary is not the time to air dirty linen – and I love this great country and am constantly astounded by the great and good things Americans have done and are doing. Howsomeever, as we collectively blow out the candles on our  “cake” this year, my wish is that we will all strive to remember the reasons we rebelled from Great Britain; reform ourselves – now; and, that the Christians who are US citizens would consider Paul’s advice to Timothy when we get revved up about politics:

 A soldier on duty doesn't get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders.   An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere.   It's the diligent farmer who gets the produce.  Think it over. God will make it all plain. (2 Tim 2:4-7from THE MESSAGE)

No, I am not saying stay out of politics – we are supposed to be good citizens, understand our times, submitting to the government, unless told to disobey God. We are also commanded to pray for those in authority.  And whichever side of the party platform or political isle, we are on, each of us is only camping – we are headed to our home. How we handle our duties here may prompt many to reconsider where they are headed. But it will surely make us better camping companions now!     

Worth reading:

Francis Schaeffer’s The Christian Manifesto

Dorothy Sayers’ Creed or Chaos?  

photo source 

N-n-n-n-n-o-o-o-o-o-o-!

As world, national and local TV devolves, I switched to watching cooking, travel and home improvement shows. (Or, my brother-in-law urges watching the golf channel.) Heretofore, the home shows or cooking shows were a respite from 24/7 cable news of the reality of a world going its own way. But too few cooks are truthful about the caloric cost of their creations. (Or, how many hours of exercise their tasty treat will cost!) And now, HGTV’s House Hunter’s has been revealed as a hoax!  It seems the productions are filled with as much hooey as some newscasters I’ve stopped watching. (Info.)

Truth be told, though, I am just as likely to cut corners -- prevaricate – and obfuscate stuff as all the entertainment and news producers may do; smoke and mirrors aren’t limited   to magicians. Writing as a daily routine reveals my penchant to put myself in the best possible light.

My friend Solomon was quicker at spotting man’s pretenses than I am – which is why Ecclesiastes is a handy personal compass in these uncertain times – when so much is not as it seems, and nobody seems embarrassed or contrite about getting caught behaving badly – myself included.

Recently, I’ve been reading through Psalms – words of worship written through all kinds of times – Solomon knew these songs. Maybe their wisdom goaded him to conclude Ecclesiastes as he did: Don’t waste any opportunity to know and grow up in God, before you grow old and can’t. (Ecclesiastes 12)

A New Form of Slavery?

William Gilmore Simms was a well-respected and popular Southern author in the mid-to late 19^th century and one of many authors who wrote opposing Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. “[T]hese novels tended to feature a benign white patriarchal master and a pure wife, both of whom presided over child-like slaves in a benevolent extended-family-style plantation.”

Nobody today believes – or remembers -- Mr. Simms’ accounts, no matter how many accolades his contemporaries awarded him. Enslaving another human being is wrong – a word that barely conveys the immorality of the deed, whether perpetrated by the Africans, Portuguese, Spanish or English.

Reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin, nowadays is often disdained because Tom, who responds to his oppressors with charity and forbearance, is too passive.  (A criticism that suggests its author hasn’t really read the novel.) Unfortunately too few people today understand what Mrs. Stowe created: an accurate description of a “benign” white patriarch master, Arthur Shelby, who was willing to sell Uncle Tom down river to pay off his debts. And none of the lives of those enslaved were lives lived under benevolent care!

Slavery ruined people and families, black and white – even as valor, charity, and conscience refused to break under its yoke.  And Mrs. Stowe masterfully shoved its apologists’ noses in the stench from that “peculiar institution.” But, slavery and its wounds still remain a part of the American conscience to today.  

Our government is stumbling under another yoke – entitlements. Our [well-intentioned] programs entrap and make dependent their beneficiaries with just enough to get by, but never enough to become independent. And we have entrapped Americans from all races, classes; 53% of all Americans enjoy some type of government assistance.  We can’t live with the cost, and we [think we] can’t live without the services. 

Could we be enslaving a third and fourth generation of American citizens?    

We meant to be helpful, creating nets through which the most needy could not slip – but we have created a system that is as unfeeling and self-perpetuating as the 19^th century plantations.  We promise to care for the aged, infirm, unemployed, and the young -- all who will come into our welfare system through a variety doors – with borrowed money -- the way plantation owners borrowed to sustain their endeavors.   

Who wants to talk about debt, anyway?

Just as Mrs. Stowe knew that slavery could not care for people ripped from their homes, transported against their will, and brutalized; that eventually its masters would dispose of their chattel when pressed financially, our government is unable to honor all the promises it has made to Americans.  

So, it feels much like the times when Mr. Simms' novels were lauded for portraying a rosy picture of a noxious institution.  Arguing that our government (Ma’ser) means only help and kindness to its beneficiaries –  (we slaves )– ignores the reality there is not enough money to go around to care for our citizens and pay our debts.    

The bill will come due, and it is only a matter of time before one group or another gets sold down river to buy more time.

There was something so piquant and original in these elucidations of humanity, that Mr. Shelby could not help laughing in company. Perhaps you laugh too, dear reader; but you know humanity comes out in a variety of strange forms now-a-days, and there is no end to the odd things that humane people will say and do. (Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Chapter 1 )

(More on Harriet Beecher Stowe)

Can I Afford Not to Vote?

-->

April Fool’s Day  is not a favorite day for me.  Probably because I am never clever enough to pull off a convincing prank, I remain obtuse enough to be fooled repeatedly, and therefore do not like the mirror this day affords. But the reminder of how easily I can be fooled, and how willing remains a timely one.

I finished reading a book (better described as a pamphlet) by Andy Andrews, How Do You Kill Eleven Million People: Why Truth Matters.  (Electronic edition) It is an expensive choice of reading material – but its content provides valuable insights – You have a mind – USE it! The real purpose of the book is to get readers to answer that question for ourselves. (Page 49)


Come on over to my NEW autumn's garden to see how I update the review of an important book:http://autumns-garden.com/citizenship-is-no-joke/

An Opportunity Blown

 

The recent dust-up over who should pay the cost of contraceptives helped slam shut an opportunity to explore an increasing and damaging price of sex outside of marriage – sexually transmitted diseases,  (STDs or STIs); none are prevented by birth control. Rush Limbaugh could have directed his audience and those who do not listen to some troubling facts. But he couldn’t resist some smart remarks about a young woman who wanted the US government to pay for her birth control; they were hard to hear, even for long-time listeners. The radio talk show host apologized, admitting he blew it. Therefore, the timing of an e-mail* from Peacemaker Ministry seemed fitting. Here’s what Ken Sande wrote about reckless words:

Oh, Be Careful Little Mouth

"Even a fool is thought wise…and discerning if he holds his tongue."
 Proverbs 17:28

Reckless words, spoken hastily and without thinking, inflame many conflicts. "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing" (Prov. 12:18; cf. Prov. 13:3; 17:28; 21:23; 29:20). Although we may seldom set out deliberately to hurt others with our words, sometimes we do not make much of an effort not to hurt others. We simply say what comes to mind without thinking about the consequences. In the process, we may hurt and offend others, which only aggravates conflict. . . . (emphasis added)

Tragically, women do die because of unplanned pregnancies – more babies, however, die from these unintentional conceptions. What is appalling, and still unaddressed, is that approximately 19 million new sexually transmitted infections are thought to occur each year.  

These infections affect men and women of all backgrounds and economic levels. But almost half of new infections are among young people ages 15 to 24. Women are also severely affected by STIs. They have more frequent and more serious health problems from STIs than men. African-American women have especially high rates of infection. (source)

A powerful entertainer and social commentator made reckless comments and we missed an opportunity to begin a worthwhile discussion on a serious public health issue, again – and all because of someone’s exercising their right to speak plainly.   So, what we remember is rude remarks – and the firestorm that erupted – not solutions to the damaging personal, medical, and social problems that erupt from sex with a multitude of partners.

The lesson I learned from Mr. Limbaugh’s catastrophic lapse of good sense and common decency, and from Mr. Sande’s apt reminder is opening my mouth without engaging my brain and heart loses listeners.  Even reckless speech may be my right – but that constitutional freedom  is an opportunity that thoughtless words will destroy.

Peacemaker ministry’s e-mail redirected my disappointment over a missed opportunity to reconsider how I say what I say: 

What have you said recently without thinking?



The word "reckless" usually conjures up images of someone driving a car with no concern for the people around them. A reckless driver can cause havoc on the highway, putting his or her life, as well as the lives of others, in harm's way. If we spot someone driving recklessly, we usually grab our cell phones and alert the police. But what about someone speaking recklessly?



Simply saying what comes to mind can be looked upon as being authentic and honest. People admire the plain-speak quality and often promote folks who can do it. But it can also be looked upon as not thinking, or reckless. The lives of the one speaking and those hearing then are caught in harm's way. And if you're caught in harm's way, the result is usually some kind of harm.

Oh, be careful little mouth what you say.

A wise woman, when she opens her mouth, the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. (Prov. 31:26) * PeaceMeal is a publication of Peacemaker^® Ministries. Copyright 2012. Reprinted with permission. To sign up for this free weekly email publication, go to the Peacemaker Ministries website at www.Peacemaker.net/epubs.