Perspectives: One view of Colorado

One of the images I took from the car as we traveled.  I think this is Colorado.

Correctness

I'm listening to a Great Courses series of lectures called "The Secret Life of Words: English Words and their Origins." The lecturing professor is Anne Curzan. She is the dean of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan. The lecture series is fascinating. I've been springing tidbits on Steve each evening - there are many ah ha moments regarding language. 

 Today as I was driving into work, the lecture topic was "Firefighters and Freshpersons." In this lecture, Curzan defines politically correct language as "language that respects all groups of speakers and respects what groups would like to be called. It also works from the premise that language matters." 

 Think about that for a moment. In my workplace, we spend a lot of time making sure that we spell people's names correctly - correctly being defined as how that person spells his or her own name. If Jayne Smythe says that is how her name is spelled, then to spell it Jane Smith would be wrong. I like this definition of politically correct language because it pulls its "correctness" from the subject of the language, and that makes sense to me. 

 Language does matter. How we speak is what people hear. What they hear has an impact on them, and on their beliefs about us, and about their beliefs concerning what we believe. It shapes what is acceptable behavior. And it shows our respect (or lack of respect) for someone else. The old adage that "words will never hurt us" is wrong. You know it, and I know it - both of us, I'm sure, have been hurt by words. Word choice is important. And we can't refuse the accept the responsibility for the impact our words have on someone else. Or even on society. 

 For example, it's been a very long time since I was a girl. Or a young lady. And there are still people who use those words when speaking to me or about me. To me, they denote a lack of respect for who I am. No one would come into our office and refer to the men (man) here as a boy or a young man. Because he isn't. And when someone uses them to refer to me, my image of that person is shaped by the disrespect I perceive. To say that I am being "overly sensitive" is to deny the responsibility for the impact of the words. 

 The truth is, I want people to be respectful of others, and I want to be respectful of others. Respect is a sign that you see the person in front of you as another human - not as an object. And if we can't sum up the change of heart to be respectful in truth, then we can at the very least, demonstrate correctness by our word choice. It's trite, but fake it until you make it. Our language can change the world, even if our heart has not been changed. And then, maybe then, our hearts will grow, too.

What do we assume?

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."  - The words of the original Pledge of Allegiance.  Actually, it is the second pledge, but this is the one that was changed a few times to become our modern pledge.

In God we Trust was approved by the President and by the Joint Resolution of Congress as the national motto of the United States in 1956.  It was first added to money in 1957.

The flag we think of as the Confederate flag was never the national flag of the Confederacy.  "Despite never having historically represented the Confederate States of America as a country, nor having been officially recognized as one of its national flags, the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia and its variants are now flag types commonly referred to as the Confederate Flag."  (Wikipedia)

Our national anthem is based on a poem written by Francis Scott Key, entitled Defence of Fort McHenry.  There are four stanzas - we commonly only use one of them.  It was adopted as the National Anthem in 1931.

The Bill of Rights were not part of the original Constitution.  They are the first 10 Amendments to the document.  Congress actually approved 12 amendments, but only 10 were ratified.  "Although Madison's proposed amendments included a provision to extend the protection of some of the Bill of Rights to the states, the amendments that were finally submitted for ratification applied only to the federal government. The door for their application upon state governments was opened in the 1860s, following ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment." (Wikipedia)

I list all of these snippets of information because it strikes me that sometimes we get defensive of something we value, assuming that it has always existed.  Some of us defend the items listed above as if they were adopted by the Founding Fathers in breakout rooms of Independence Hall. We defend something as if it is historical, when we don't know the history at all.  I value some of the above (not the "Confederate flag") but I am aware that they are products of change, not of set in stone 200 year old historical standards of our country.  

Perspectives: Death amid Life

We saw this tree as we were walking the other day. It was a harsh contrast with the green around it. 

Context

As I've mentioned before, I am reading Short Stories by Jesus, written by Amy-Jill Levine.  I did read the entire Introduction, although I was impatientto get to the chapters.  I'm glad I did.  Here are three great quotes about context:

• "...a text without a context is just a pretext for making it say anything one wants."
• "In order better to hear the parables in their original contexts and so to determine what is normal and what is absurd, what is conventional and what is unexpected, we need to do the history."
• "If we get the context wrong, we'll get Jesus wrong as well.  The parables are open-ended in that interpretation will take pace in every act of reading, but they are also historicallly specific.  When the historical context goes missing or we get it wrong, the parables become open to problematic and sometimes abusive readings."

Reading scripture carries responsibility with it, especially if we are teaching or preaching.  We have to take that seriously and do our homework.