What in a word?

Last Thursday night, my wife were honored to attend the 4A State Championship Game between Guntersville and Thomasville. We were thrilled that we won.

We were not thrilled with the company behind us, however.

We sat with our usual crowd of the Blacks, the Merediths, and good ole Susan. With the Merediths were 3 or 4 little children, under the age of 12, and with the Black family was their youngest son as well. Also near to us were several other smaller children which I did not know.

Not more than 30 seconds after we sat down, we heard the good ole "S" word come out behind us from an older lady, then a few "D" words followed. I thought maybe she had spilled a drink and got upset, or something along those lines, little did I know we were in for a wild ride.

Next to this older was a young man, around 20 or so. I don't know him, and I'm not going to judge him, but he started cursing like it was going out of style. Not to say that any cursing has a point, but this was absolutely pointless cursing. Word after word, he spit out the "S" and "D" words like he was popping candy in his mouth.

Of course, in this great world we live in, no one really wanted to say anything to avoid some sort of scene. We all wanted to enjoy the game, but everytime a word popped out, I just wanted to cover the ears of those young children. I know, they hear it on television and radio, we can't protect them forever, but there is something different when you hear the word said right in front of you.

My wife, at about halfway through the second quarter, did something she is not known for. She confronted this young man about this. She turned around, and very politely said "I'm not trying to be rude, but could you please stop cussing? There are lots of little children around, and its very inconsiderate of you". To this, the young man replied "Oh, I'm sorry, was I cussing?". As jerkish as that may sound, I honestly believe he really didn't know he was using expletive after expletive. (However, for the rest of the night, he did not curse...the older people behind me were a different story).

When I taught speech in Houston, TX, I remember spending a day on cursing. Basically, I told the kids that only the most ignorant of people curse, because they have nothing better to say.

I went through a phase a really long time ago, when I was in 3rd grade or so, when I thought it was cool to cuss with my friends. Of course, we never spoke like that in front of a teacher or a parent, but it caught up with me.

My father, ever the good person, heard me one time say the phrase "What the?". Nothing else, just "What the?". He told me if he ever heard me say that again, he would wear me out. I think it was a day or two later, we were cleaning out the garage, and I stumbled across something in the woodpile that I had no clue what it was. Of course, that amazing discovery led to a wonderful "What the?". My father promptly put down what he was doing, and told me to get upstairs. You can figure out what happened later.

I was never allowed to say words like fart, crap, sucks, or various other words. I know those may sound silly and absurd, but I think it says a lot when you can control your tongue. Ephesians 4:29 says: Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

I charge us all to control our tongues.