I’d like to praise the Lord but it’s a lot more fun to swear

As a Christian, praising the Lord is one of my chief mandates. It is part of the deal people that share my faith have with our god. This excuse, however, is not limited to Christians, or people of any faith. Sure, for me it is of direct consequence exactly as written, but for people who are athiests, agnostics or believers in something or someone else, the key thought still matters: we don’t always say what we should about others.

Working from the Christian context as an example, it’s important to understand that praising my God is not just offering a trite “Yay, God” or repeating a positive mantra over and over again. When Christians praise their Lord it is supposed to be an act of true faith that reflects and broadcasts the feelings within their heart. It might be as quick and simple as taking a moment to offer up a “Yay, God!” when something noteworthy takes place. It doesn’t have to consist of a long, convoluted prayer or song; praise happens when we put into words or actions our joy in our god.

To take it beyond Christianity, consider an office manager working for a large corporation. Her job is to ensure that the office in her care works effectively and efficiently so that her company can operate well and profitably and her staff be happy and fulfilled doing their jobs. That is her primary concern; her secondary concern is to ensure that she presents her company in a positive manner at all times. It might be as simple as saying “Yay, Megacorp!” The important thing is that she not be seen as bashing her employer or putting down the people she manages. Again, the words have to be heartfelt; maybe not with the same passion as a Christian might feel towards their god, but certainly a true and genuine word of appreciation for the organization she works for.

Human nature does not always tend towards praising the Lord or our bosses. I am always amazed and depressed at how quickly a conversation can devolve into a whining or, to use the vernacular, bitching session. The company is too cheap; my wife spends to much money on perfume; he’s a lazy slob; they’re so annoying they deserve each other. Watch a sitcom for any length of time and you’ll assume that the only way folks deal with each other is through jabs, put downs and insults. I’d like to praise my neighbour but it’s a lot more fun to mock them.

On a larger scale, people are constantly putting down their governments or decrying the evils of big business. Certainly neither institution is perfect; yet the very governments people insult are run and staffed by people just like themselves and, for the most part, serve the needs of the people reasonably effectively. Similarly, big business does have its downside, but it is not only responsible for employing the very people that insult it, it is also a large scale reflection of how human beings deal with one another. In other words, when we complain about how corporations work, we are really complaining about ourselves.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing; if there is no reason to praise a large institution, if it is truly deserving only of mockery and insults, then perhaps a change is in order; perhaps the people buying the product or service need to take a stand and spend their money elsewhere, or find a better way of doing things. Or, it might be a call to look in the mirror in order to see on a human level the problems being addressed at a corporate level.

It’s the same thing at the personal level. What we say about others, whether we praise them or swear at them, says as much, if not more, about ourselves than about the people that are the subject of our conversation. If all we can do is find fault and mock those around us, what does it say about our character? Are we too good for our neighbour? Or is nothing good enough for us? Are we feeling so negative about ourselves that we have to tear others down in order to build ourselves up? Some folks might argue that they only insult or mock the people they love; I would argue that I don’t really think that’s love, and I certainly don’t want to be shown I am loved in that way. Perhaps, as mothers throughout eternity have been wont to tell their children, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

It is a nice, safe thought. Better to keep silent rather than mocking a friend, or swearing at God simply because it’s a lot more fun. Yet in that idea there is also a hint of the negative; don’t even bother finding something nice to say; don’t even try finding the little bit of goodness that might be praised or celebrated. It’s safe to keep quiet; it’s a lot more fun to swear; what about praise? That might take a little extra effort, at least according to popular culture. As I mentioned earlier, most comedy shows seem to be built on the concept that friends are to be mocked and insulted. Human nature also seems to stray towards gossip and pettiness. It would seem that swearing is the order of the day, but who says that it should be that way for everyone? Just because it’s popular doesn’t make a thing either right or desirable. It might take a little extra effort to find something nice to say about a person, but when we do, everyone wins.