Timestamp....Wednesday afternoon, a couple of weeks ago...Y1 barrels through the door, after school, just nearly humming to tell me the news of the hullabaloo at school. Apparently, there was a fight in the cafeteria before the first morning bell. A fight...between two girls. According to Y1, Wednesdays are pretty boring. This Wednesday was to be the exception because, of course, conversations about the fight kept the day rather spicy, so I am told. The cause of the fight? Really no different than any that happened when I was his age. This one said x,y,z and 1,2,3 about the other. The other replied with her own two cents. Where it diverges from the knock downs of my generation is that it was all published on Tw*tter! Yep...out in the open for all of Tw*tterdom to see and re-Tw**t. Here's the funny thing, the people who REALLY needed to see all of this, probably had no idea what was happening, between their daughters, online. That is, until they got phone calls from Mrs. Principal's office! I have a sneaking suspicion that at the end of that particular day, Tw*tter had lost a couple of users!
It was very curious to observe Y1's reaction to all of it. He said it caught him off guard and about the time he realized what was happening, one of his football coaches sailed into the cafeteria and into the fray and for all intents and purposes, took one of the girls down like she was one of the tackling dummies! He said that several students climbed onto the tables trying to get a better view of the fight. In my mind's eye, I can picture him...not sure what to do...seeing it, not believing what he's seeing; knowing it's wrong, not sure what to do to stop it or if it's his place to try and stop it; his body frozen but his mind whirling like a pea in a whistle.
Of course, this lead to a whole conversation or sermon, if you will, about being VERY careful of what you say, where you say it, when you say it, how you say it and if you should say it at all! He is my child and unfortunately, he has the tendency of opening his mouth and inserting his foot. He gets it from me and I hate it for him. Maybe he'll learn how to control it better than I did...quicker than I did. Maybe it won't be as much of a stumbling block for him as it has been (and sometimes still is) for me. My prayer is that he will always have kindness in his mouth and that he will be able to engage his brain ahead of his jaw! Shoot, that's my prayer for myself...every morning before my feet hit the floor. "Dear God...please don't let the words that I say, today, be anything but pleasing to you!" Some days are better than others.
The book of James is a whole essay, if you will, about the mouth...the tongue...our words...and the destructive capabilities of the whole arrangement. My favorite thought, to paraphrase..."The tongue is a flame set on fire by Hell." One little spark...that's all it takes to start a raging wildfire. One word...be it spoken, Tw**ted or posted....that's all it takes to spice up an otherwise very ordinary Wednesday. I'll bet those two girls would be glad to have that one Wednesday back and make it the most ordinary of days. Unlike all the social media outlets of this modern day, life doesn't have a delete or edit button.
It was very curious to observe Y1's reaction to all of it. He said it caught him off guard and about the time he realized what was happening, one of his football coaches sailed into the cafeteria and into the fray and for all intents and purposes, took one of the girls down like she was one of the tackling dummies! He said that several students climbed onto the tables trying to get a better view of the fight. In my mind's eye, I can picture him...not sure what to do...seeing it, not believing what he's seeing; knowing it's wrong, not sure what to do to stop it or if it's his place to try and stop it; his body frozen but his mind whirling like a pea in a whistle.
Of course, this lead to a whole conversation or sermon, if you will, about being VERY careful of what you say, where you say it, when you say it, how you say it and if you should say it at all! He is my child and unfortunately, he has the tendency of opening his mouth and inserting his foot. He gets it from me and I hate it for him. Maybe he'll learn how to control it better than I did...quicker than I did. Maybe it won't be as much of a stumbling block for him as it has been (and sometimes still is) for me. My prayer is that he will always have kindness in his mouth and that he will be able to engage his brain ahead of his jaw! Shoot, that's my prayer for myself...every morning before my feet hit the floor. "Dear God...please don't let the words that I say, today, be anything but pleasing to you!" Some days are better than others.
The book of James is a whole essay, if you will, about the mouth...the tongue...our words...and the destructive capabilities of the whole arrangement. My favorite thought, to paraphrase..."The tongue is a flame set on fire by Hell." One little spark...that's all it takes to start a raging wildfire. One word...be it spoken, Tw**ted or posted....that's all it takes to spice up an otherwise very ordinary Wednesday. I'll bet those two girls would be glad to have that one Wednesday back and make it the most ordinary of days. Unlike all the social media outlets of this modern day, life doesn't have a delete or edit button.
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