FOUR LETTER WORDS

“That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Since my mother was fond of this quote and always gave Heber J. Grant the credit, I grew up believing he was indeed the author of these words. Thanks to the miracle of the internet such oversights can now be quickly remedied and Ralph Waldo Emerson can now receive his deserved credit.

I have come to realize that like so many truths in life, this bit of wisdom can lead to both good and bad ends, to both blessings and cursings for us all. A blessing comes to all of us who enjoy the results of a gifted individual who toils for long hours in developing and perfecting a talent. Sadly, we are also cursed when our lives are contaminated by those who through much practice have developed a disgusting habit which has become an ingrained flaw to their character.

The U. S. News and World Report in May of 1982 reported a trend in society which has now avalanched into a plague upon us all. “The four letter word has emerged from the barrooms and barracks and can be heard and seen almost everywhere in conversation at restaurants, on bumper stickers, in cheers bellowed at sporting events, on television and in movies.” Sorrowfully, what was written as a shocking exposé on the downward movement of societal vocabulary, would today be laughed at as being very old fashioned and out of tune with the times.

I grew up believing that grandparents were examples of those who had lived lives of positive selections, having incorporated that which was good and rejected that which was repugnant. My own grandfather Riley, although he was a truck farmer and had a very temperamental old Ford truck was never heard by me to utter a foul word or make an obscene gesture. I loved the movie On Golden Pond, but hated the propagandized reality, which I was left with, that seemingly profanity was a rite of passage as one passed into ‘old’ age. It seemed to advocate that the more four letter characters a senior could add to their sentences the more character they were presumed to have.

For many years I watched the adventures of Star Trek on the small screen. With elation I can report that those wondrous explorers of far off times had overcome the necessity to use vulgar verbiage. However, by the time they brought Star Trek to the big screen it was shocking to hear that those future heroes had come of age and were well practiced in the use of four letter words. One of the real ironies of Star Trek III – In Search of Space was that only the white hats (good guys in old westerns who never swore) were allowed the privilege of profanity while the dreaded bad guys (who spit and drank in old westerns) were limited to colorless colloquialisms.

As I proceeded through my training in various athletic endeavors it was stressed that one of the keys to athletic achievement was total control of my faculties, physically as well as emotionally. It is now somewhat embarrassing to attend my grandchildren’s soccer games and have to listen to what spews forth from mom’s, dad’s, coaches, and kids. It is impossible to watch sports news casts without hearing bleeps and seeing mouths and hands clouded over to cover obscene words and gestures. It has become apparent that many feel that with stardom comes the right to publicly give total vent to verbiage and gesture in whatever foul way you wish to pollute the environment.

When I was very young I experimented with some four letter words in secreted places with other children I was trying to impress, well out of the ear range of disapproving adults. In those days distasteful Lava soap was applied to mouths of children who were heard uttering such words. I find that more often than not I have to remind young people and adults who enter our home that some words which through practice have become very common to them are not used in our home. Sadly, sensitivity to using foul language went out of popularity when Lava soap went off the shelves of markets.

We who belong to an antiquated generation had emphasized to us in our youth that only an uneducated mind had to resort to using the crutch of ‘bad’ language. We were taught that a truly intellectual and educated person could come up with a ‘real’ or ‘appropriate’ word to fit the situation. Sadly, today, the use of cursing and profanity has escaped all proper societal boundaries and continually stench the sounds which surround us.

If I had a ‘four letter word’ wish, it would be, that all those who have become proficient in the use of profanity because of the frequency of practice would retire with their childishness into the alcoves with others of their kind where they can be impressive to one another, leaving the rest of us to bask in the pureness of language undefiled. Or maybe that Lava soap could once again be found on the shelves in the market place.

I love life and the wonders of this glorious creation of God, but I am somewhat disturbed by the way that which is common has become popular. Isaiah saw us clearly when he proclaimed “Woe unto them than call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)