G to the A = ATL!
So, I'm coming down to stay in GA in FOUR days. I leave for NC in less than three...and now the anxiety has melted and given way to utter and complete EXCITEMENT! I can't wait to see all my crazy friends and have more fun than I've pretty much had all summer with all the work and school crap...but I get to ignore everything for a whole freaking week! Heeeeck yes! I'm so happy, I don't even want to swear, isn't that crazy?
Speaking of swearing, I've been thinking about it a lot. Because I do know that some of my friends and "friends" disagree with it. And, so let me seek to explain my reasons for doing so.
I used to get really angry with my mom for certain things she did or said to me under certain circumstances. I would go into my room and yell and scream and cry into my pillow. I didn't really have a problem with cussing (except very, very rarely, like I mean once-a-year-in-the-utter-pits-of-despair kind of thing) until my tenth grade year. That was by far the worst year of my entire high school career and I didn't have very many friends. The people who befriended me or stayed my friend (people like Shaundra, Kyle, Tim, Joel, Sarah, and random others) were the kind of people my parents would probably disapprove of if they knew certain facts of their life. Regardless of this, they were some of the best friends I had (and still have, in some cases) in that particularly rough time. When I started taking meds for depression, things got worse and I started having more and more panic attacks and low points and it was then that I started cussing. I was around people who didn't care, and who did it too. All the people who would have disapproved of it had long since faded when the going got rough. Even my friends like Britt and Norene who didn't cuss, still didn't usually judge me for doing it myself. My point is, that's why I picked it up. Because all the people who would have disapproved either backed off or weren't a part of my life yet. And when those said people became a part of my life, I had the respect for them to not be offensive to their own beliefs by cursing. And I may have lead a pretense that I didn't do it, just because I didn't do it around them...and sometimes I even complained about people who did it in excess (and really I don't use it in excess). So for that, I was in the wrong. I should have been upfront about it and not pretended like I didn't do it. I was just afraid my new friends (both here and in GA) would judge me for it. And you know what? On some accounts, I was quite right.
So I started to rationalize...and justify and figure out why cursing was so bad. I figured, if you say darn and mean it in your heart with the same vigor as someone saying "damn", then why not just say "damn"? If you mean the same thing, what's the difference?
And what about the bible? It never says explicitly not to curse (unless someone can point it out to me). It merely condemns uncharitable speech...as well as you know, ungratefulness and other stuff. So, as long as you're not cursing to hurt another person or to show ingratitude, is it really bad? (I'm being serious, go ahead and refute my argument if you want, I don't mind being proven wrong) For example if you say:
"That girl is a bitch!" -- That would be considered to be against the bible, because you're being uncharitable
BUT if you say: "I'm sorry for bitching and complaining so much today" -- how is that uncharitable? It's the same word. But it's the meaning, the context, the way you say it that makes it a curse. So the way people just harp over something being a "bad" word is completely false. Words aren't mean. People are mean. If a person says ANYTHING mean or hurtful about someone else, they deserve to be treated the same as anyone who uses any of the 3-5 letter words that society has deemed "curse" words. Asshole = butthole. If you call someone either, it's just as bad. But for some reason, butthole is deemed more appropriate. What kind of logic is that? Oh, that's right. There is no logic.
Basically, my point is that words don't make curses. People make curses. People say mean things...and I truly believe that God disapproves equally of calling someone a butthole or an asshole. As far as the intelligence factor goes, I don't believe people who cuss in excess prove themselves to be particularly intelligent. I do believe that you can put stuff more intelligently and eloquently. However, cursing in general is not a sign of unintelligence. The smartest people I know indulge in it occasionally, and no matter what anyone says, I am still intelligent despite it. I don't need someone being my moral police, and honestly, if they knew me well enough, they would back off that subject when they saw how it pales in comparison with my other faults.