On Minimizing…

I don’t know if I am just now paying attention or if this is a new phenom. This business of minimizing things that happen, especially when it is coming from the mouth of the person that did the deed or said the thing that has been said.

What am I talking about? Wull, for instance Oregon’s former (and formerly well respected) governor admitted to “having sex with” a young girl starting when she was 13 or 14 years old. Ur, um, Neil and all of you reporters who have/are covering the crime it is called RAPE. The man repeatedly raped the child. If he did not force her body he certainly forced/coerced her mind, and spirit.

I am disgusted with the verbiage that adults ‘fondled’ children. Ur, um, lemme help you out with that - it is called molestation. Children are frequently preyed upon by grown people who rationalize their twisted behavior and refuse to use the actual words that are true to the deed. (If they ever cop to the filth of the act in the first place).

How about ‘swiped‘, ‘borrowed’ and ‘bummed’ when the person or entity had no knowledge of the aforementioned? Ur, um, that is called stealing. I observed a teenager with his eye on a pair of very nice, newer tennis shoes in the corner of a gym for a couple of days. I saw the teen walking with the shoes and I asked him how he came by them. He told me that he found them. I suggested then that he take them to the lost and found so that they could make their way to their rightful owner. He was incredulous. He said, “But I found them”. I remarked that they were clearly valuable and that the owner would surely be looking for them. He was irritated with me. I informed him that since the community is so small the person who owned the shoes would surely notice him wearing them to which he replied he did not intend to wear them on sight. I pointed out that that was a clear indication that he knew he was wrong.

Maybe we have been groomed ourselves to the point that we won’t speak truth either. I mean we let advertisers of every stripe oversell and under deliver on their products. We hear people talk about guaranteeing things all of the time that they in no way can/will enforce or ensure. We act as though the speakers credibility is reinforced by their words. I mean ‘had sex with’ sounds so much different than ‘repeatedly or frequently raped’ doesn’t it? Hmmm, Bill and Monica...

Think about the prescription ads that talk about the wonderful things their drug is going to do for us and then in a lower and much faster voice list all of the potentially harmful effects their drug might just have. Remember the weight loss magic that at the end said, “may cause sudden, unexpected and oily stools”?

I could go on but lets suffice it to say that I am committed to using the words that fit the deed in all cases to the best of my ability. Please join me. Maybe we will help give victims a voice by not sugar coating an offense. In a world filled with so much gray there are some areas we can be very clear in. I am further committed to reframing and restating what someone has said to me when they are blowing smoke up my - wull, where the sun don’t shine. Yes? I have to tell you that it feels so utterly refreshing to, in all honesty tell someone that what they are telling you is a sack of dung when you - and they - know it is!