As a stark contrast to the moral trait of “silence”, having the right speech entails saying the right things at the right time. Needless to say, I was a repeat offender of doing the opposite this very week.
Finding speech that leads to group harmony rather than disharmony in this 21st century world of growing technology is a challenge, but it can be done if properly applied to the various aspects of one’s life.
There are four major aspects of right speech I attempted to tackle this week…
1. Abstain from false speech; do not tell lies or deceive. I’ve been pretty honest a majority of my life, never really betraying my friends or family in a manner I would find particularly distasteful (except maybe hacking my friend’s Neopet account in 7th grade). This week was not particularly difficult, but I had to simultaneously tone down the sarcasm a little (it can often be misconstrued) while simultaneously not giving white lies. Furthermore, if anyone asked me any questions I would indeed answer it honestly, or try to avoid the question in an effort to prevent myself from lying. (Dodging the question = what politicians are particularly good at). On that note, it’s particularly fun to spread the message of liberty through video and various other communication mediums (aka showing Ron Paul videos to others).
2. Do not slander others or speak in a way that causes disharmony or enmity. I encounter a ton of this in my everyday interactions with people. High school students in particular are repeat offenders of this. I wish we could live in a world where everybody got along and no problems ever arise, but often due to what people say to one another problems can arise. We can’t forget that verbal abuse is just as bad as physical abuse, and I myself refuse to engage in it ever.
3. Abstain from rude, impolite or abusive language. I was on my best behavior from the hours of 2 to 6PM on Monday-Friday, AKA the hours that I work at Katella High school. Let’s just say the rest of the time probably didn’t go as well as I had hoped…. I still told relatively raunchy jokes, cussed a little now and then, and was the worst offender Saturday night under the influence of alcohol. I guess alcohol sadly brought out all my inhibitions to release profanity upon the world.
4. Do not indulge in idle talk or gossip. This, too was one of the weak points of the week. But it all comes down to a matter of what people construe “gossip” as. People think gossip is when you spread lies about other people. I happen to think whenever you talk about anyone, it’s a conditional form of gossip. Whichever the case I was unable to avoid idle chatter this week, mostly because my friends happen to love it so much. I can’t even avoid it at work, because high school students for one reason or another often come up to me sharing details of their life while simultaneously gossiping about others. And as depressing as it may be that I bond with the students on such a superficial level, I’d like to think gossip is largely unavoidable in this day and age. Any tabloids article is construed as a form of gossip. Even CNN and Foxnews engage in massive gossip and propaganda when reporting about various politicians in Washington. Whichever the case I hope never to let the gossip get to me, i.e. never put myself in the situation where I’m going to spread and disseminate false and incriminating information.
In the end maybe I’m not good at exercising right speech. On the opposite side of that is “right listening” though, which I can honestly say I try my best to achieve. When listening to my friends’ problems I try to address them in a way that will both cheer them up and potentially move them one step closer to happiness. I try to use my words to make them happy, and who will really argue with me when trying to achieve these means that that is really the wrong way to approach things. Whether at a Circle K function, a volunteer event, or hanging out with my friends I will try to retain all that I have learned. Writing remains one of the forms where I can truly express a condensed, yet my appropriate feelings about any given time or event (i.e. my blog posts). Even my “letter” to the Circle K President thanking her was both sincere and heartfelt, and I hope to continue the trend of thanking people who have made a sufficient impact on my life.
The End Result: What a mixed bag. Alcohol really messed up my ability to maintain my morals this week, and thus I give myself the lowest grade of a C-.
Next Week: Right Action
