Harold Ivan Smith, a noted grief counselor, made the comment that after the death of their spouse, many men have lost their ONLY friend. (See Robert W. Bowman’s article “Harold Ivan Smith on grief ministry” in Baptists Today, November 2007, pp 16-17.) As I have observed many men’s relationships with others over the years, it is true that many have much more isolated lives than their wives and many single men seem likewise to be much more solitary in their existence than others. “The lone wolf” syndrome may apply. While men generally display less verbal inclination than females, it appears that men’s “social” isolation may not be so much a “genetic” factor as it is function of patterns that become established with maturity. While many children seem to associate with ease and vigor, whether in neighborhood pick-up games, or more regimented group sports, or even the often observed club of bike riders or skateboarders, we do find that in adulthood many of the more casual interactions seem to disappear.
The current growing preponderance of spectator related events and isolated gaming activities seem to increase the frequency and intensity of this personal isolation. While “parallel play” may be noted in children and adolescence, there tends to be an adult parallel in the lessening of social interaction as work becomes more defined and groups of adults become more specific in their “interest” focus. Many men simply fall through the social cracks when it comes to making and keeping friendships over long periods in adulthood. The time for those friendships often is the mitigating factor against their development and continuation. Intensive demands for work hours, heavy family responsibility, and even the simple availability of time or the imposed geographic isolation created by some occupations increase this tendency.
“Competitive isolation” seems to encroach to some degree with peers who occupy the same vocational choice. There is a hesitancy to be consistently open and interactive regarding venues that compete for clients, members, or pay scale comparison. While professional groups are linked in such ways, even then, the level of friendships is sometimes defined by locations separated by distance, coupled with some frequency of verbal or written or social content. Very personal, engaged interaction, candid disclosure, and openness are often reserved for the marriage partner alone.
In light of such observations, what strategies might men consider to reduce social isolation? One of the starting points is the recognition that we need friends. Valuing relationships in the first place makes it worth the investment of time and energy to build them. Second, there is the need to find those friends at some level…close at hand. It is great to have friends “around the world,” but in times of crisis, it is wonderful to have one down the street, or within a distance to go see and talk to quickly. Even the Bible notes “there is a friend closer than a brother.” Friends who share in common healthy values are likewise encouraging. While friends may have very different personalities, the capability of congeniality and some strong commitments to values of conscience that are shared and understood, can often go a long way toward building a good basis for friendship. Many have found friends at church, in those communities of faith that identify a common shared relationship of trust in God and an interest in Christian community. Men who have these things in common already have a clearly defined basis for relating to one another in healthy and positive ways.
There is an old proverb that says “iron sharpens iron.” Men who share positive relationships with other men often find strength in learning and growing in their personal understanding of many things. Individually, we have unique knowledge and information to share. In community those strengths become valuable for all those in that circle of communication and interaction. Close friendships often are derived as challenges are faced, overcome, and discussed in the context of relaxed settings. Men usually are missing the time, place, and opportunity for those interactions because they often are overcommitted in other ways.
There is no question that one helpful transition would be “away from” isolated settings, whether it is in front of a television, computer, or video game station. Likewise, the availability of regular times for men to spend time socially without the stimulus (or depressing influence) of intoxicants as an excuse for “hanging out” would be a positive. Men who share strong family values, concern for their children and spouse, interest in being responsible spiritual leaders in their homes and community will invest appropriately in those kinds of social and community opportunities that will not detract from their aims and goals, but will be a help and encouragement to them.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Health Conservationists Unite!
The Center for Disease Control has as its primary focus, the eradication or control of disease. Hundreds of health related entities promote the fight against various forms of disease or ailments. Scores of Foundations and Medical Societies approach their task from the distinctive standpoint of treating and curing diseases.
I would suggest that there is yet to be a significant and prolonged focus upon the stewardship of health. While wellness is discussed and in some cases promoted to a degree bordering on religious, we discover a promotion of behaviors but seldom a real focus upon conservation of health from either a societal or community basis.
How is it that we adopt as culturally acceptable the detriment of minor’s health by their parents? Is there not some potential for activating a social unacceptability for adults to confine a young infant to an automobile where two people are smoking? Who gives irresponsible “health-wise” persons the right to harm others. We do -- the society that says nothing or calls for nothing sufficient to change behaviors. Am I talking about some sort of strange control laws? No. I’m talking about intelligent, honest, hard-working, common sense kinds of people stepping up to say we will not ignore common sense. I’m talking about honest to goodness, kind hearted, good natured, positively powerful, caring individuals who have the consistency of character and will to transform the social norms of our time to say…it is unacceptable to harm the health of others by irresponsible behavior. I am not suggesting “thought police;” I am suggesting good thinking. I am suggesting the public mind being a responsible body of thinking individuals. Why has chaos won the day? It is because of the craziness of our public silence in the face of dysfunction, disease, and distastefulness. We will not change the norms until we live responsibly, act reasonably, and pursue the debate toward health with a passion.
I have always had a soft spot in my heart for public health nurses. They have the big view so frequently. They see what needs fixing and go far to do what they can to make a real difference. Where is that kind of spirit in the way the general public might pursue health conservation? To think of smokers…putting 7 minutes of their lives into the grave with every cigarette? Can’t the sense of something better be considered worthy of their time? I understand addictions are real. And they deserve no more of the control they exercise than the minds of those who fall victim to their influence. Health conservation would dictate an exploration of addiction, but not looking for a cure to the disease by some quick and easy means, but by the prevention of the addiction in the first place. Why do we play Russian roulette with addiction? Why do we as a society act to promote with socially accepted promotions and advertisement, the pursuit of behaviors that are addictive, disruptive, and destructive to the general health of the nation, the specific health of individuals and families, and the overall well-being of the public? Why are we so enamored with distraction over against the realities. Why do we accept the lies at the risk of being socially ostracized? Why is not the behavior acted upon in the reverse. Why is it not unacceptable to be publically intoxicated? Why is it not unacceptable to have drive-by alcohol sales? Liquor stores should reasonable be located at least a 20 minute walk from any source of transportation. In the old days of mountain moonshine stills that was the way it was. And people who drank, drank a lot less frequently as a result. Why is it not socially unacceptable to give drivers licenses at all to people who use alcohol as a beverage and drive? Why is it acceptable to allow binge drinking in fraternities on college campuses filled with underage persons? Why not shut them down? Why not throw them in jail? Why not punish those who sold the alcohol to them in the first place before we see another round of dead freshmen lying in a pool of their own vomit and discovered the next day after the party-goers sober up? Why do we have such zeal for preventing the abortion of an unborn child, and do nothing in the first place to educate young teens regarding the consequences and obligations of early pregnancy? Where are the men involved when it comes to consequences? And where are the laws to protect the unwanted children from the abuse that so frequently becomes their experience after they are born into a household with no father, no caring parent, no responsible adult in their lives? Is it any wonder the street gangs are so common. People look for family, for relationship, for being a part…somewhere…and somewhere is wherever there is somebody who will include them. So the terrorists of this generation…wherever the geography, run roughshod over the communities in which they roam. The nature of the economies they support and are a part of are no different from the larger connections of the “civilized” economy, only much less successful. In other words…sell illegal drugs for a living, and you wind up with the same beans you could make legally working at Mickey D’s. The only difference, you might live a little longer and not wind up in jail.
We taxpayers however seem to prefer spending $30-40,000 per year on keeping a person behind bars rather than putting up $3-4,000 in funds per person for better teachers, books for schools, and decent housing options for working families. Health conservation lies in taking the long view for the benefit of the future, and taking the short view of fixing today what can be fixed and improved. Time can’t and won’t stand still. Consequences likewise, don’t wait til later…they are a moving target for our action today. Similarly, always being in reaction mode has become the order of the day, rather than looking for ways to preempt the crises with good measures of health conservation in the first place.
Hindsight is always better than foresight we say. I say, we close our eyes and we stumble. It is high time we looked at the path we are taking and bothered to look down the road we are on. The roadsigns are clear enough, the warning signs seem to be somewhat visible…why don’t we exercise the public will to do what will bring benefit to all, at least when it comes to health? Is there a cost…a shift in economic systems and protocols? -- absolutely. Is it a reasonable action to take? If so, why do we hesitate?
Social control is not my suggestion…social exercise…social pressure…social action…and personal will are the necessity… for the conservation of health. Will there still be illness, death, disease? -- undoubtedly. Will there be those who operate to eliminate disease? -- of course. Will we have to spend so much of our effort wasting resources? -- hopefully not. Health conservation will mandate improvements in industry, agriculture, medicine, education, economics, international trade, and world safety and health. The state of our nation’s health is weak… we have fallen to the same patterns of the Romans…the pursuit of pleasures (without regard for health and well-being of others) , games (frivolous pastimes that do not ultimately entertain, satisfy, or bring about any personal benefit.) and free bread ( the widely dispersed opinion that work is not a requirement for food, shelter, and clothing). Able individuals should be required to work …or there should be no outlay for their “upkeep.” If they go to jail…put them to work. No labor…no food. Healthy prisoners can do more work. Keep them that way. … Healthy and working. Someday it could catch on. No road should have trash waiting to be picked up. It should be so unacceptable to trash the roadways, that anyone seeing it happen would report it and have the ability to mandate a fine so severe that the perpetrators would pay dearly or be engaged in picking up trash for days as a recompense. Where is the public will? Are we pleased with trash on every corner,cigarette butts at every intersection, beer cans in front of every churchyard after Saturday night?
They only thing we are doing in America today is depriving honest hard-working people of the rewards of their labors and instead requiring them to subsidize those who don’t care to act responsibly, don’t want to work, don’t have the education or willingness to earn it in order to work, and the sick, disabled, and lifetime poor who haven’t understood there is something worth striving for in the first place after the communities they live in turn their backs, raise their noses, and pretend they are not around except to allocate them to the backroads, backwoods, back alleys, and back hallways of sub-standard caregivers. Where is the will for something better? Where is the leadership, the public debate? Where is the power of the mind and heart and spirit of those who have been given by God a voice and the body for acting…doing…speaking the truth?
Does the reality of our sinful human nature compel us to “tolerate” anything and everything? Are we so patronized by the celebrities and powerful of our generation that we have convinced ourselves that they really should be our heroes…because they hit more homeruns, made more points on a basketball court, earned more money from their vulgar record album than anyone thought they could? Do these values circumvent or supercede the lifetimes that diligent teachers commit to making hundreds of children more capable and competent? Where are our priorities? When will the winner of the Heisman trophy for athleticism be replaced with a recognition of achievement in positively affecting humanity for good. We need new measures of what should be valued and why. Our priorities are totally scrambled in a world of lost values, lost hopes, and lost expectations. Call in the health conservationists. Let us begin the diligent and exciting work of rebuilding integrity toward the common good. Let us escalate the value of health to the extent that we are willing to take steps toward it in daily choices. Playing at health is no substitute for being healthy. Why do we need hundreds of people bouncing around trying to lose the ton or two tons or million pound challenge, while we refuse to curb parts of the food industry that precipitate overindulgence in unhealthy foodsources as central to the community routine. Why do we ignore the capability we have to help people walk daily to work, schools, and homes, if we simply escalated the commitment to safe traffic patterns, public sidewalks, and common forms of cooperative transportation? Its time to set the bar high..to conserve health or at least get out of the way of those attempting to.
Its time to tell the gambling crowds to put their money on improving the world, not causing it to suffer greater harm. Tell the energy providers to curtail the destructive effects of their products via the engineering of more efficient and cleaner sources of energy. Its time to take on the money grabbing, revenue wasting, lying, cheating, stealing, waylaying thieves of our brave new world and demand a new order for the day. We have to ask in order to receive. We have to seek in order to find. We have to knock in order to have the door opened to us. It is time for us to believe that we are responsible.
I would suggest that there is yet to be a significant and prolonged focus upon the stewardship of health. While wellness is discussed and in some cases promoted to a degree bordering on religious, we discover a promotion of behaviors but seldom a real focus upon conservation of health from either a societal or community basis.
How is it that we adopt as culturally acceptable the detriment of minor’s health by their parents? Is there not some potential for activating a social unacceptability for adults to confine a young infant to an automobile where two people are smoking? Who gives irresponsible “health-wise” persons the right to harm others. We do -- the society that says nothing or calls for nothing sufficient to change behaviors. Am I talking about some sort of strange control laws? No. I’m talking about intelligent, honest, hard-working, common sense kinds of people stepping up to say we will not ignore common sense. I’m talking about honest to goodness, kind hearted, good natured, positively powerful, caring individuals who have the consistency of character and will to transform the social norms of our time to say…it is unacceptable to harm the health of others by irresponsible behavior. I am not suggesting “thought police;” I am suggesting good thinking. I am suggesting the public mind being a responsible body of thinking individuals. Why has chaos won the day? It is because of the craziness of our public silence in the face of dysfunction, disease, and distastefulness. We will not change the norms until we live responsibly, act reasonably, and pursue the debate toward health with a passion.
I have always had a soft spot in my heart for public health nurses. They have the big view so frequently. They see what needs fixing and go far to do what they can to make a real difference. Where is that kind of spirit in the way the general public might pursue health conservation? To think of smokers…putting 7 minutes of their lives into the grave with every cigarette? Can’t the sense of something better be considered worthy of their time? I understand addictions are real. And they deserve no more of the control they exercise than the minds of those who fall victim to their influence. Health conservation would dictate an exploration of addiction, but not looking for a cure to the disease by some quick and easy means, but by the prevention of the addiction in the first place. Why do we play Russian roulette with addiction? Why do we as a society act to promote with socially accepted promotions and advertisement, the pursuit of behaviors that are addictive, disruptive, and destructive to the general health of the nation, the specific health of individuals and families, and the overall well-being of the public? Why are we so enamored with distraction over against the realities. Why do we accept the lies at the risk of being socially ostracized? Why is not the behavior acted upon in the reverse. Why is it not unacceptable to be publically intoxicated? Why is it not unacceptable to have drive-by alcohol sales? Liquor stores should reasonable be located at least a 20 minute walk from any source of transportation. In the old days of mountain moonshine stills that was the way it was. And people who drank, drank a lot less frequently as a result. Why is it not socially unacceptable to give drivers licenses at all to people who use alcohol as a beverage and drive? Why is it acceptable to allow binge drinking in fraternities on college campuses filled with underage persons? Why not shut them down? Why not throw them in jail? Why not punish those who sold the alcohol to them in the first place before we see another round of dead freshmen lying in a pool of their own vomit and discovered the next day after the party-goers sober up? Why do we have such zeal for preventing the abortion of an unborn child, and do nothing in the first place to educate young teens regarding the consequences and obligations of early pregnancy? Where are the men involved when it comes to consequences? And where are the laws to protect the unwanted children from the abuse that so frequently becomes their experience after they are born into a household with no father, no caring parent, no responsible adult in their lives? Is it any wonder the street gangs are so common. People look for family, for relationship, for being a part…somewhere…and somewhere is wherever there is somebody who will include them. So the terrorists of this generation…wherever the geography, run roughshod over the communities in which they roam. The nature of the economies they support and are a part of are no different from the larger connections of the “civilized” economy, only much less successful. In other words…sell illegal drugs for a living, and you wind up with the same beans you could make legally working at Mickey D’s. The only difference, you might live a little longer and not wind up in jail.
We taxpayers however seem to prefer spending $30-40,000 per year on keeping a person behind bars rather than putting up $3-4,000 in funds per person for better teachers, books for schools, and decent housing options for working families. Health conservation lies in taking the long view for the benefit of the future, and taking the short view of fixing today what can be fixed and improved. Time can’t and won’t stand still. Consequences likewise, don’t wait til later…they are a moving target for our action today. Similarly, always being in reaction mode has become the order of the day, rather than looking for ways to preempt the crises with good measures of health conservation in the first place.
Hindsight is always better than foresight we say. I say, we close our eyes and we stumble. It is high time we looked at the path we are taking and bothered to look down the road we are on. The roadsigns are clear enough, the warning signs seem to be somewhat visible…why don’t we exercise the public will to do what will bring benefit to all, at least when it comes to health? Is there a cost…a shift in economic systems and protocols? -- absolutely. Is it a reasonable action to take? If so, why do we hesitate?
Social control is not my suggestion…social exercise…social pressure…social action…and personal will are the necessity… for the conservation of health. Will there still be illness, death, disease? -- undoubtedly. Will there be those who operate to eliminate disease? -- of course. Will we have to spend so much of our effort wasting resources? -- hopefully not. Health conservation will mandate improvements in industry, agriculture, medicine, education, economics, international trade, and world safety and health. The state of our nation’s health is weak… we have fallen to the same patterns of the Romans…the pursuit of pleasures (without regard for health and well-being of others) , games (frivolous pastimes that do not ultimately entertain, satisfy, or bring about any personal benefit.) and free bread ( the widely dispersed opinion that work is not a requirement for food, shelter, and clothing). Able individuals should be required to work …or there should be no outlay for their “upkeep.” If they go to jail…put them to work. No labor…no food. Healthy prisoners can do more work. Keep them that way. … Healthy and working. Someday it could catch on. No road should have trash waiting to be picked up. It should be so unacceptable to trash the roadways, that anyone seeing it happen would report it and have the ability to mandate a fine so severe that the perpetrators would pay dearly or be engaged in picking up trash for days as a recompense. Where is the public will? Are we pleased with trash on every corner,cigarette butts at every intersection, beer cans in front of every churchyard after Saturday night?
They only thing we are doing in America today is depriving honest hard-working people of the rewards of their labors and instead requiring them to subsidize those who don’t care to act responsibly, don’t want to work, don’t have the education or willingness to earn it in order to work, and the sick, disabled, and lifetime poor who haven’t understood there is something worth striving for in the first place after the communities they live in turn their backs, raise their noses, and pretend they are not around except to allocate them to the backroads, backwoods, back alleys, and back hallways of sub-standard caregivers. Where is the will for something better? Where is the leadership, the public debate? Where is the power of the mind and heart and spirit of those who have been given by God a voice and the body for acting…doing…speaking the truth?
Does the reality of our sinful human nature compel us to “tolerate” anything and everything? Are we so patronized by the celebrities and powerful of our generation that we have convinced ourselves that they really should be our heroes…because they hit more homeruns, made more points on a basketball court, earned more money from their vulgar record album than anyone thought they could? Do these values circumvent or supercede the lifetimes that diligent teachers commit to making hundreds of children more capable and competent? Where are our priorities? When will the winner of the Heisman trophy for athleticism be replaced with a recognition of achievement in positively affecting humanity for good. We need new measures of what should be valued and why. Our priorities are totally scrambled in a world of lost values, lost hopes, and lost expectations. Call in the health conservationists. Let us begin the diligent and exciting work of rebuilding integrity toward the common good. Let us escalate the value of health to the extent that we are willing to take steps toward it in daily choices. Playing at health is no substitute for being healthy. Why do we need hundreds of people bouncing around trying to lose the ton or two tons or million pound challenge, while we refuse to curb parts of the food industry that precipitate overindulgence in unhealthy foodsources as central to the community routine. Why do we ignore the capability we have to help people walk daily to work, schools, and homes, if we simply escalated the commitment to safe traffic patterns, public sidewalks, and common forms of cooperative transportation? Its time to set the bar high..to conserve health or at least get out of the way of those attempting to.
Its time to tell the gambling crowds to put their money on improving the world, not causing it to suffer greater harm. Tell the energy providers to curtail the destructive effects of their products via the engineering of more efficient and cleaner sources of energy. Its time to take on the money grabbing, revenue wasting, lying, cheating, stealing, waylaying thieves of our brave new world and demand a new order for the day. We have to ask in order to receive. We have to seek in order to find. We have to knock in order to have the door opened to us. It is time for us to believe that we are responsible.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Big Words
The statistics of word analysis in writing point to an increasing brevity in sentence length, coupled with an increasing length in words themselves. Entymologists who study these things regard it as a function of language development over time that moves from short words to more "intense" word usage. The addition of prefixes, suffixes, and various adverbial additions allow our words greater capacity to describe and relate to one another, though at the expense of the words becoming a bit longer. It is hard to tell whether or not the comprehension level has risen or not. Equally difficult is whether or not anyone really seems to be working at the issues of understanding in the first place.
Many have suggested that those who achieve success in many fields are those who are equipped with substantial vocabularies. It was even popular for a time to encourage vocabulary building as a significant means of more rapidly improving ones rank and level of success in the larger business arena. If the "large vocabulary" equals large success rule does apply, someone should study the progess of winners of spelling bees to discern whether they are the "great successes" of our time.
My personal appeal would be for a renewal of "plain speak." Perhaps I should get a copyright for that term. "Plain speak" in my view would be a base of language usage that would be both understandable and readable by "let's say" high school graduates. While I do understand the wide diversity in that field of achievers, let me simply imply that some levels of "non-plain-speaking" that are notable today render confusion as their greatest by-product, misunderstanding as their key ingredient, and uninteligibleness as their constant commodity. All right, my words are too big. What I am suggesting as a societal "need" at this point in history is some kind of "common speech" or "plain speaking" that would allow for shared communication between most normally socially responsible individuals who can read and write at a reasonable level.
Why is such needed? Consider the pages of the normal internal revenue service instructions. Apart from the humorous suggestion that one write in column one what one earns and in column two copy that number and send it to the IRS, there seems to be more than a little confusion about the rest of the instructions that we typically read in the tax code.
Another place for rewriting is the basic court documents one must use in settling an estate, or transfering ownership of an automobile, or writing a will and designating beneficiaries. In each of these cases, the legalese that presently permeates these proceedings is both cumbersome, difficult, if not impossible to interpret quickly and easily; and despite being a document to carry out a very regularly occuring activity, it can be made to seem ridiculous by the sheer complexity of confusion caused by the language used when reading. I know, my words are too long.
Part or the problem lies in our cultural insistance on specialization. We compartmnentalize fields of endeavor in such ways that the language of each becomes a language unto itself. Only those "within" the realm can speak or understand the meaning of the "words" this specialty has devised. Sadly, we all lose the capacity to relate or to learn or to share with one another in the most ordinary ways.
Build your vocabulary! I'm all for it. At the same time I dare anyone, accountants, bankers, and marketers, the pleasure of deciphering a current bank solicitation for a new credit card account. The content of such documents is a continuous litany of doublespeak. Offers for credit at one point in the document are removed in the fineprint below and substituted with suggestions that any previously quoted rate is not necessarily the rate and the rate will be determined by one's prior acceptablitly and approval and credit rating and a rate will be determined at the time of approval or if not, the amount of credit will be reduced or the rate increased, depending on the evaluation of one's ....you get the idea. All of this under the title: You are preapproved for a new account with us." They are then not pre-approving anything, not guaranteeing any account, and any new account might be transferred to another entity in the blink of an eye. So much for the failure of any sort of "plain-speak."
Politicians equally join in the fun. They can not only speak out of both sides of their mouths as we used to say, but they manage to always play to the most available audience at the moment. "Get elected" is their rule of thumb. Forget the consistency or truthfulness or meaning of their words. All right, I know not all politicians sell themselves to the highest bidder. But speaking is important. I for one hold it in high regard...noting its power to move people to act, to engage people for a common purpose, and to remind people of truth.
So why don't we start with some "plain-speak" for a change and work to build a more functional and helpful capacity to communicate? If someone could explain the tax code, I would love to write a translation. What if "plain speak" could be used to communicate regarding health, government, food, insurance, banking, and business transations? Imagine the benefit. Imagine the improved speed of doing business. Imagine the cost savings. Imagine the good choices that could be made in light of clear information. I know, people with good information still do not always make good decisions. But if they can understand what they are deciding about...it sure gives them at least a "fighting chance" of avoiding a bad choice, if they would like.
This could be fun. Imagine a tax form that said: Annual Income; divide income by 10; send that amount to IRS. This is your tax for this year. Imagine a car for sale sticker that said: Your Price: You pay it, its yours. Imagine a credit offer at a bank that said. You may borrow this much _____. It will cost you ___ % of the balance annually until it is paid in full. Imagine a contract that said. These ______________(services) will be done for __________(price) by _________(date) or a refund of ______ daily will be given for delays. Imagine "plainspeak" in politics. "I will vote for ___________(bill or law) because _____________(reasons).
I will vote against ____________(bill or law) because__________________(reasons.)
Such a wave of "fresh air" might change politics forever. Yes, we could dream.
In other words, sign me up as an advocate of "plain speak." I think its time has come. draft 10:23:00
The statistics of word analysis in writing point to an increasing brevity in sentence length, coupled with an increasing length in words themselves. Entymologists who study these things regard it as a function of language development over time that moves from short words to more "intense" word usage. The addition of prefixes, suffixes, and various adverbial additions allow our words greater capacity to describe and relate to one another, though at the expense of the words becoming a bit longer. It is hard to tell whether or not the comprehension level has risen or not. Equally difficult is whether or not anyone really seems to be working at the issues of understanding in the first place.
Many have suggested that those who achieve success in many fields are those who are equipped with substantial vocabularies. It was even popular for a time to encourage vocabulary building as a significant means of more rapidly improving ones rank and level of success in the larger business arena. If the "large vocabulary" equals large success rule does apply, someone should study the progess of winners of spelling bees to discern whether they are the "great successes" of our time.
My personal appeal would be for a renewal of "plain speak." Perhaps I should get a copyright for that term. "Plain speak" in my view would be a base of language usage that would be both understandable and readable by "let's say" high school graduates. While I do understand the wide diversity in that field of achievers, let me simply imply that some levels of "non-plain-speaking" that are notable today render confusion as their greatest by-product, misunderstanding as their key ingredient, and uninteligibleness as their constant commodity. All right, my words are too big. What I am suggesting as a societal "need" at this point in history is some kind of "common speech" or "plain speaking" that would allow for shared communication between most normally socially responsible individuals who can read and write at a reasonable level.
Why is such needed? Consider the pages of the normal internal revenue service instructions. Apart from the humorous suggestion that one write in column one what one earns and in column two copy that number and send it to the IRS, there seems to be more than a little confusion about the rest of the instructions that we typically read in the tax code.
Another place for rewriting is the basic court documents one must use in settling an estate, or transfering ownership of an automobile, or writing a will and designating beneficiaries. In each of these cases, the legalese that presently permeates these proceedings is both cumbersome, difficult, if not impossible to interpret quickly and easily; and despite being a document to carry out a very regularly occuring activity, it can be made to seem ridiculous by the sheer complexity of confusion caused by the language used when reading. I know, my words are too long.
Part or the problem lies in our cultural insistance on specialization. We compartmnentalize fields of endeavor in such ways that the language of each becomes a language unto itself. Only those "within" the realm can speak or understand the meaning of the "words" this specialty has devised. Sadly, we all lose the capacity to relate or to learn or to share with one another in the most ordinary ways.
Build your vocabulary! I'm all for it. At the same time I dare anyone, accountants, bankers, and marketers, the pleasure of deciphering a current bank solicitation for a new credit card account. The content of such documents is a continuous litany of doublespeak. Offers for credit at one point in the document are removed in the fineprint below and substituted with suggestions that any previously quoted rate is not necessarily the rate and the rate will be determined by one's prior acceptablitly and approval and credit rating and a rate will be determined at the time of approval or if not, the amount of credit will be reduced or the rate increased, depending on the evaluation of one's ....you get the idea. All of this under the title: You are preapproved for a new account with us." They are then not pre-approving anything, not guaranteeing any account, and any new account might be transferred to another entity in the blink of an eye. So much for the failure of any sort of "plain-speak."
Politicians equally join in the fun. They can not only speak out of both sides of their mouths as we used to say, but they manage to always play to the most available audience at the moment. "Get elected" is their rule of thumb. Forget the consistency or truthfulness or meaning of their words. All right, I know not all politicians sell themselves to the highest bidder. But speaking is important. I for one hold it in high regard...noting its power to move people to act, to engage people for a common purpose, and to remind people of truth.
So why don't we start with some "plain-speak" for a change and work to build a more functional and helpful capacity to communicate? If someone could explain the tax code, I would love to write a translation. What if "plain speak" could be used to communicate regarding health, government, food, insurance, banking, and business transations? Imagine the benefit. Imagine the improved speed of doing business. Imagine the cost savings. Imagine the good choices that could be made in light of clear information. I know, people with good information still do not always make good decisions. But if they can understand what they are deciding about...it sure gives them at least a "fighting chance" of avoiding a bad choice, if they would like.
This could be fun. Imagine a tax form that said: Annual Income; divide income by 10; send that amount to IRS. This is your tax for this year. Imagine a car for sale sticker that said: Your Price: You pay it, its yours. Imagine a credit offer at a bank that said. You may borrow this much _____. It will cost you ___ % of the balance annually until it is paid in full. Imagine a contract that said. These ______________(services) will be done for __________(price) by _________(date) or a refund of ______ daily will be given for delays. Imagine "plainspeak" in politics. "I will vote for ___________(bill or law) because _____________(reasons).
I will vote against ____________(bill or law) because__________________(reasons.)
Such a wave of "fresh air" might change politics forever. Yes, we could dream.
In other words, sign me up as an advocate of "plain speak." I think its time has come. draft 10:23:00
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Things To Do in 2008
Whether you watched the Rose Bowl or Sugar Bowl or football in some other form on New Year's Day, one thing for certain -- people seem to enjoy competitive contact sports -- whether watching or playing. Some have described football as a form of civilized war. While such descriptions may apply, another possibility comes to mind. We enjoy the association with victory, accomplishment, reaching goals, and facing challenges.
The same applies to life. In most cases the pride of accomplishment, the ability to reach goals, and the opportunity to face new challenges makes life both interesting and ever changing.
This New Year brings us individually and collectively a "benchmark" for considering what will mark our priorities for the next period of time. It may mean responding to changing circumstances, in which case, old plans often are drastically changed. It may mean continuing to work toward long established goals...moving forward slowly, but surely. It may mean setting new agendas based on current needs. But thinking about these things is an important process.
Prepare a plan for the year. It may be modified at points along the way, but look ahead carefully and consider what you might accomplish in the next twelve months.
Challenge yourself. Take up a new interest or pursuit of knowledge or understanding. Plan a trip, a journey you have never taken over a mountain or to a shore you have never before seen. Consider the way you contribute yourself in relationship to others. Risk making new friends, introducing yourself to new foods, stretching your world in ways that allow you to see and know more of the thoughts and backgrounds of others. Consider learning a new language, a spoken language or perhaps a computer language. How are you improving yourself in your capacities as a worker, or an employer, or as a volunteer?
Have you thought about what it would take to impact some other person with the good news of Jesus Christ. Have you considered discipling a young beleiver in the scriptures and spiritual disciplines of prayer, bible reading, and practical ministry? Have you considered what you already know may be the first step toward making a wonderful contribution to the lives of others...but it requires your giving of yourself to share. Have you considered becoming a hospital or hospice or soup kitchen volunteer? Have you interests in music or theatre or drama or writing that you could channel in ways to bring the knowledge of Jesus to others? Have you considered connecting your Christian faith with your daily walk -- with purpose and intention and joy?
2008 will allow you to watch a few more football games, or to enjoy an extra day in February (its leap year) or to cast a vote for a presidential contender, but will you offer in the name of Christ an expression of witness and love and ministry that may change someones future for all eternity?
Years ago a Jewish professor of mine at the University of Georgia shared her personal grief about not responding to the opportunity of utilizing her financial resources in the early years of World War II to help her fellow Jews to escape from the German holocaust. She said, "I have regretted all my life not spending that nestegg when it would have made such a difference." Many of our daily decisions will allow us to celebrate the opportunity of our choices or perhaps to regret what we did not do. I hope you will think about living in such a way, for the glory of God, that you have "no regrets." Blessings for a wonderful New Year.
The same applies to life. In most cases the pride of accomplishment, the ability to reach goals, and the opportunity to face new challenges makes life both interesting and ever changing.
This New Year brings us individually and collectively a "benchmark" for considering what will mark our priorities for the next period of time. It may mean responding to changing circumstances, in which case, old plans often are drastically changed. It may mean continuing to work toward long established goals...moving forward slowly, but surely. It may mean setting new agendas based on current needs. But thinking about these things is an important process.
Prepare a plan for the year. It may be modified at points along the way, but look ahead carefully and consider what you might accomplish in the next twelve months.
Challenge yourself. Take up a new interest or pursuit of knowledge or understanding. Plan a trip, a journey you have never taken over a mountain or to a shore you have never before seen. Consider the way you contribute yourself in relationship to others. Risk making new friends, introducing yourself to new foods, stretching your world in ways that allow you to see and know more of the thoughts and backgrounds of others. Consider learning a new language, a spoken language or perhaps a computer language. How are you improving yourself in your capacities as a worker, or an employer, or as a volunteer?
Have you thought about what it would take to impact some other person with the good news of Jesus Christ. Have you considered discipling a young beleiver in the scriptures and spiritual disciplines of prayer, bible reading, and practical ministry? Have you considered what you already know may be the first step toward making a wonderful contribution to the lives of others...but it requires your giving of yourself to share. Have you considered becoming a hospital or hospice or soup kitchen volunteer? Have you interests in music or theatre or drama or writing that you could channel in ways to bring the knowledge of Jesus to others? Have you considered connecting your Christian faith with your daily walk -- with purpose and intention and joy?
2008 will allow you to watch a few more football games, or to enjoy an extra day in February (its leap year) or to cast a vote for a presidential contender, but will you offer in the name of Christ an expression of witness and love and ministry that may change someones future for all eternity?
Years ago a Jewish professor of mine at the University of Georgia shared her personal grief about not responding to the opportunity of utilizing her financial resources in the early years of World War II to help her fellow Jews to escape from the German holocaust. She said, "I have regretted all my life not spending that nestegg when it would have made such a difference." Many of our daily decisions will allow us to celebrate the opportunity of our choices or perhaps to regret what we did not do. I hope you will think about living in such a way, for the glory of God, that you have "no regrets." Blessings for a wonderful New Year.
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