Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Inbox Inspiration: July 17, 2024: Words and Violence 1-3

 

INBOX INSPIRATIONS

July 17, 2024

 

Words and Violence – 1

 

Dear Friends,

My Inbox Inspirations first appeared in 2012. They have continued on every Wednesday since then – for 12 years! Twice, in 2018 and again in 2021, I did several columns on the power of words. I have decided to do that again now, in 2024, with the focus on Words and Violence

 

Our words can have enormous impact on others – on individuals, communities, and on society as a whole. They don’t just communicate facts. They can shape what others think, feel, believe, and do.

On the one hand, our words can promote understanding and build connections between people. On the other hand, they can also create hostility and cause division. Words can inspire hope or ignite anger. They can encourage respect or foment aggression. They can bring out the best or the worst in others. In fact, they do bring out or express the best or the worst in the one who speaks the words.

 

It can all start on a personal level. Our encouraging words can lead children to flourish and develop their God-given potentials. However, our diminishing words can lead them to feel worthless and enter a downward spiral of self-doubt. Our appreciative words can help a marriage to blossom and grow in closeness. However, our thoughtless words can start an angry exchange of verbal put-downs and drive a hurtful wedge between spouses.

These personal, real-life possibilities show the power of words. In brief, words can be peaceable, or they can be violent.

 

The Scripture has some things to say about this.

“The words of the wicked are a deadly ambush, but the speech of the upright saves them” (Proverbs 12:6).

“A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse one crushes the spirit” (Proverbs 15:4).

Jesus would have known these passages through his formation in the Hebrew Scriptures. He himself says this: “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will render an account for every careless word they speak. By your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37).    

 

I believe that we need to look carefully at the power of our words. There should be no allowance for words that are violent or lead to violence. More on this next week!    

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner

 

 July 24, 2024

 

Words and Violence – 2

 

Dear Friends,

What we say can have a significant impact on others, positive or negative, constructive or destructive. In this series, I am especially concerned about words or expressions that are violent or can lead to violence. 

 

Violence refers to behavior that is intended to hurt or even kill someone, or to damage something. Violence can take various forms—physical, sexual, emotional, structural, and verbal. As said above, these columns are focusing especially on verbal violence. 

 

Our words can shape perceptions and define realities in both truthful and untruthful ways. On the one hand, when used thoughtfully and benignly, our words can foster understanding, resolve conflicts, heal divisions, and promote unity. On the other hand, when used thoughtlessly or maliciously, our words can fuel prejudice, cause division, and incite aggression.    

A blatant and horrific example of what I am saying is the Holocaust of the last century. Millions of Jews and others were exterminated by the Nazis. Dehumanizing rhetoric and hateful, demonizing words led to discrimination, persecution, and death. In all of history, this remains one of the clearest examples of violent words and the power of words for causing further violence. 

We also need to acknowledge that our American history is tarnished with the experience of hate speech directed against African Americans. This contributed to inhuman prejudice, discrimination, and slavery. Amazingly, we still hear of too many incidents of hate speech directed against blacks, Jews, and now also against Latinos and Asians.

 

Of course, the power of words to cause violence is not limited to the societal or large-scale level. In our personal, everyday experience, hurtful and hateful words can lead to abusive behavior and psychological wounds. Examples of this are bullying in schools, harassment in the workplace, the belittling of children or of a spouse at home, and demeaning of another’s sexual orientation. These actions can lead to long-lasting trauma. They can cause devastating psychological and emotional problems. All of this is violence.        

 

So, words and expressions that threaten, insult, harass, slander, intimidate, manipulate, dehumanize, and scapegoat are dangerous. Morally, they are never justified, and they are always wrong. These words and expressions are violent in themselves and lead to other forms of violence. They are all morally wrong. 

 

Next week I will look at the kind of words we should be using.   

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner


July 31, 2024

 

Words and Violence – 3

 

Dear Friends,

In the last two Inbox Inspirations, I proposed that some words can be violent and that violent words can lead to other forms of violence. Today I want to propose six basic rules about words – the kinds of words we should use, and the kinds of words we should avoid. 

These rules are probably not new to us. However, they are important, and a refresher might be good at this time.

1.   Use words that are respecting and not belittling.

Respect others as persons and, if possible, affirm their good qualities. Never belittle or demonize others and make them appear as all bad.

2.   Use words that are unitive and not divisive.

Emphasize the things that you share in common with others and that unite you. Don’t divide yourself from others as if there can never be any common ground between you.

3.   Use words that are reconciling and not distancing.

Ask for forgiveness or be forgiving, or at least speak in a way that leaves the door open to reconciling. Don’t distance yourself from others especially by holding yourself as absolutely right and them as absolutely wrong.

4.   Use words that are protecting and not bullying.

Be protective of others who are vulnerable. Don’t bully them by taking advantage of their weakness or inferior position.

5.   Use words that are persuasive and not coercive.

Treat others as reasonable persons and try to respectfully persuade them about whatever the issue is. Don’t try to coerce others into seeing or doing things your way.

6.   Use words that are truthful and not untruthful.

Say things that you know or believe to be true even if they are not in your best interest. Don’t say things that are untrue, maybe to make yourself look better or for whatever reason.

 

As I have said, these rules are not new. They may be a helpful refresher at this time. I conclude this series with this wise insight: “Speech has power. Words do not fade. What starts out as a sound, ends in a deed.”

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner 

 

Quotation by Abraham Joshua Heschel. (1907-1972. Polish-born American rabbi. Author and leading Jewish philosopher and theologian in the twentieth century.)

 

 

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