Words, words, words – printed, written, typed, spoken, broadcasted – fill every crack and crease of life. Like water that engulfs, words soak the fabric of our existence. On the back of the cereal box, the morning paper, the radio, billboards, signs, books, smartphones, and screens – words fill our lives. And into this sea of words, we add our own, compounding the din of commentary, opinions, descriptions, invitations, etc. Rather than creating clarity, many times we just add to the noise. Though we are free to speak and write, our free communication does not always promote understanding, nor does it produce solutions. In our freedom to say, print, and text whatever we wish, we speak, write, and text too many words. Quite possibly we need fewer words and more silence. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘integrity’
Words
Monday, January 7th, 2013Warning
Wednesday, April 18th, 2012Warning: character, integrity and love do not equal living large, being famous, or doing whatever – aspiring to these may harm your life.
We need to be warned and we must warn others that living a life that longs for character, settles only for integrity and truly loves is not always grand or pretty. In fact, such aspirations are extremely hard and usually messy. Often, in this age of twitter, facebook, and blogs, we can be fooled into thinking that if we tweet or post something, it actually is. And thus, I am a person of character, have integrity and care for others just because I type such sentiments. Not so. Life is real and thus to be really lived – with real people, in the midst of their real problems, caring for their real junk, and speaking really hard stuff to them. To really live may mean our online persona suffers serious harm, our status is not so grand, and our updates are not so frequent. Be warned, Mike – aspiring to character, integrity and love may mean that you type less and live more, or even stop typing altogether and start really living.
Thoughtful Speech
Monday, November 22nd, 2010A friend recently remarked that much of what is spoken these days falls into one of two categories; it is either combative and uncivil, or it is inane and trivial. His observation is that people either state matters as incontestable fact when what they are saying cannot be proved or verified, or they understate in a rather casual, urbane manner that which should be said with conviction and fervor. Since what is spoken in both cases seems to be without serious or careful consideration, my friend feels we must redouble our efforts to ensure that we measure our words, so that we speak to each other in a thoughtful manner.
My friend is absolutely correct for a number of reasons. (more…)
Dissonance
Monday, September 1st, 2008n. 1. inharmonious or harsh sound; discord; cacophony. 2. an unresolved, discordant musical cord or interval. 3. lack of harmony or agreement; incongruity.
All of us live with a level of dissonance in our jobs, relationships, church lives, etc. What we hold as convictions or values are not in exact accord with what we hear or what we must do, say, and represent. Dissonance can be as basic as who we are as a person not matching the personality or ethos of a family member, group, or organization. We will not agree with everyone on everything all the time, so dissonance is part of life. We learn to cope with or adapt to it.