I hate to curse. I won’t judge those who do, but it’s my personal goal to avoid doing so. To me, cursing seems like a cry for others to look and listen. To me, you can tell a lot about a person based on the language they use.
A few years ago, while waiting for a flight at the airport, I ordered a meal from a restaurant near my terminal. That day, workers were overwhelmed by particularly long lines, and after waiting 40 minutes, I had to board my plane without my food. I wasn’t the only one in line who walked away empty-handed, and a mosaic of anger and stress held a pungent fog over the crowd.
As I was leaving, I saw a boy carefully walk up to the cashier and ask for a refund. At that moment, the cashier’s patience snapped before me. Maybe it was wrong of the boy to ask. Maybe it was wrong of me to stay and watch.
The cashier roared, howling in the boy’s face about disrespect. I watched him curse at the young boy without a second thought. The scene caught many eyes across the terminal. Unfortunately for the cashier, he had caught the wrong eyes.
Coming up from behind me, the boy’s father shot the cashier down with a piercing stare. He had the kind of eyes that burn themselves into your skin. His gaze drove deep into the cashier as he opened his mouth to speak.
“How the [expletive] are you going to yell at a 14-year-old boy?”
The silence that followed rang loudly in my ears. The boy and his father exited immediately, leaving the crowd in awe.
It’s moments like these that prove to me how the language we use reflects a piece of who we are. These days, I worry that we’re far too thoughtless with our words. It’s okay to get angry, to make mistakes and even to be careless from time to time. But when it comes down to it, we must ask the question: are we okay with the image of ourselves our words reflect?
I’m not going to argue that the father reacted appropriately. However, when he cursed, his words served a greater purpose. The father’s words displayed his protectiveness over his son. The message that he would protect his child above all.
I hope we can take the father’s example to heart. I hope we can break free from thoughtless cursing and instead find worth in what we say. I hope we can be proud of the person our words reflect and know that we have spoken with purpose when others hear us talk.