The Power of Language

“What we crave in the wilderness are fresh words from the mouth of God – not yesterday’s manna, nor tomorrow’s, but just enough for today.” ~ Barbara Brown Taylor, When God Is Silent

Let me start with a disclaimer. Lauren Boebart does not represent all of Colorado. She hardly represents the district from which she was elected – a huge swath of territory that includes towns as politically diverse as ruby-red Rifle and navy-blue Aspen. While she has provided social media with an array of outrageous stunts over the past year, the heckling she did during President Biden’s State of the Union speech was beyond the pale. In case you haven’t heard (and be thankful that you haven’t!), she yelled at him while he was describing the suffering endured by U.S. service members as a result of the massive burn pits in Iraq. Representative Boebart’s taunt came just as Biden referred to his son, Major Beau Biden, and his death from brain cancer.

It's safe to say we are all worn out by the verbal violence that assaults us each day – through the news, on social media, and in public places that used to be off-limits for such behavior. Decorum, mutual respect, and temperance all seem to be quaint fixtures from the past. Free speech now seems to mean free reign to spew whatever anger, resentment, and misinformation we so choose. It’s eating away at our corporate soul.

Several years ago, I was asked to direct a retreat based on Barbara Brown Taylor’s book, When God Is Silent. It is a lovely read by a woman with an extraordinary gift for words used well and wisely. The gist of the book is that words matter. As such, there is a time to speak and a time to remain silent. And all time is well-spent by measuring our words carefully. In preparing for the retreat, I drew upon another book – Words That Hurt, Words That Heal by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin. As the title suggests, there is power in words for either good or ill. Telushkin notes how our words are like arrows. Once shot from the bow, they can never be retrieved.

A few blog posts back, Barbara wrote about the beauty of cross-generational conversation and how much we learn from younger people and vice versa. Lee Danesco posted a wonderful comment in which she described the “luxury of listening.” I have been taken with the phrase, especially in light of the SOTU episode. Tempting as it is to join the fray, there is a luxury in staying still, in listening below the noise, and in holding one’s tongue so as to await words that convey healing, peace, and genuine respect.

Response by Barbara Radtke

Kathy, thanks for this thoughtful commentary on what I found to be a painful moment in the SOTU event. Essentially I agree with you. I have always preferred the decorum that has been historically observed by legislators during a speech in the U.S. I hate to lose that tradition.

I have always winced at the sometimes raucous interaction in the British and Canadian parliaments during presentations made there.

On a larger scale, your comments provoked three tensions within me. Modeling their expression after Ecclesiastes 3, I would articulate these tenses as:

A time to be still; a time to act A time to listen; a time to speak A time to have luxury; a time to address necessity

These tensions speak to me of the larger context in which we find ourselves in the geopolitics of the world. Timing is everything. How long should we wait? When is the time to act and what action? To whom do we listen? When do we courageously use our voice?

I, too, loved Lee’s phrase “the luxury of listening,” especially in the context in which she used it. Luxury, however, implies to me both a comfort and an extravagance that I don’t feel we have. I am uncomfortable when I hear the “human interest” stories of those who are being displaced by the invasion; of the helpers being stretched to their limits of the aid they can offer; and of those whose budgets, already stretched by inflation, are now taking another hit. I like your idea of listening below the noise, but I feel a fierce urgency, a necessity to do so.

This is a friendly amendment from the blogger from MA. I yield the rest of my time to our readers. :)