Civil
Discourse
I
was raised under the watchful ear of my grandmother whose verbal mantra was “if
you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” My mother didn’t take
lip from anyone. My punishment for foul language within hearing range was a bar
of Ivory soap inserted in my mouth to cleanse the tongue. Both must have had an
intuition that one day I would be a preacher in need of good diction.
Civil
discourse is when people engage in conversation to enhance understanding. This
happens among people who arrived at some level of maturity and have the skills
to communicate personal convictions without demeaning the character or opinions
of others. Listening with the goal of learning how others see life is as
important as sharing one’s own views.
Is
it that there is a famine of mature adults in the land? Are the educational
institutions not teaching that free expression of ideas without the
recrimination of “correctness” is the lifeblood of our republic? Is the church
not teaching how to speak the truth in love? Maybe there is a shortage of sage
grandmas and moms with bars of soap to purify tongue and mind. There are no
safe zones to protect the weak of heart in a healthy environment of civil
discourse.
I
keep returning to the Bible to stay on track. Here is some wisdom about civil
discourse: “Do not let unwholesome, foul, profane, worthless, vulgar words ever
come out of your mouth, but only such speech as is good for building up others,
according to the need and the occasion, so that it will be a blessing to those
who hear you speak.”
Is
there need to say more?
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