Wednesday, September 22, 2010

5 days with james: wednesday

One of the political blogs I visit regularly requires you to preview comments before you submit them. Once you have a chance to review, you must then choose between “OK to Post” and “Cancel”.

I would estimate that I end of deleting about 50% of my posts, primarily because they are snarky, or mean-spirited or simply do not add anything of value to the conversation.

I wish I had the same “OK to Post” filter in the off-line world.

…take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire… no man can tame the tongue…

On Saturday, I posted a reply on a Facebook post, then went back a few hours later to chastise myself. On Sunday, a group of us were watching a YouTube video taken by a friend where he got very emotional at the sight of a double rainbow—gushing in amazement. In response to this incredible awestruck moment, I handed him a purse, an act that was childish and demeaning in so many ways. Two days later I called to apologize.

Maybe one day I’ll get that “OK to Post/Cancel” feature to work in real-time.

4 comments:

kc bob said...

I can so relate Ed! My quick wit (read that big mouth) regularly gets me in trouble.

I love that it says no man can tame the tongue. Knowing that God can tame it gives me hope.

Anonymous said...

i think we do have that filter, but it is not attatched to the main line.

i have often thought of the heart as a filter. and yet, things don't seem to be automatically filtered through it.

Ed G. said...

@Bob. You always seem to set the right tone... God must be on your side!

@Nancy. What a lovely thought... maybe there's a poem in there waiting to emerge.

Erin said...

Thanks for this post, Ed. Seems I can't be reminded of this often enough.