I’ve only been in one fistfight in my life. It was a scheduled event, the grocery store, after Babe Ruth baseball practice. It was a spectator event, maybe half the high school showed up. I’d say, twenty or so of ‘em. The match? Lopsided. We stood toe to toe; I tried to talk some sense into him. When you’re too small fight, and too slow to run, diplomacy is the best policy. Somewhere during my diplomatic endeavor he struck, one blow to my right cheek. I hit the ground, got up, and asked if he had had enough. Thankfully he said yes.

The fuel for the fight was my mouth. A few days earlier I had told him to mind his own business, he took offence and things went down hill from there. I learned two lessons because of that event. I needed to watch what I said, and I needed to be a better diplomat.

When working with my editor on Everyday Christianity I had to fight, in a sense, to keep in a word that he said wasn’t a word and therefore should be changed. In fact he wanted to remove an entire phrase. He said it didn’t make sense.  I won this one. Maybe it didn’t make sense to him because he hadn’t really thought about what I was saying. I wanted my point to be memorable; I wanted it to stick with the reader. The phrase; “You can’t unsmush bread.” God forgets, humans don’t it’s as simple as that. Whatever I say to hurt, or defame, or slander another individual lives with them for the rest of their lives. Many strong willed individuals will forgive, and carry on a good relationship with the offender, but they never forget. Many more will forgive, but distance themselves from the offender. Most will not forgive at all. The damage has been done. The heart crushed. The feelings hurt. The relationship destroyed.

Smush a loaf of bread and see what you have. Some slices are still useable in the aftermath, maybe a little skewed, maybe a little smaller, maybe a little deformed, but still usable. Other slices will need reconstructing so you try to stretch the bread back to its original shape, but in doing so a tear appears. The slice can still be used but part of the jelly is lost through the hole that’s been created. Most of the slices however are rendered useless. They’ve been compacted so that the consistency, the very makeup of the slice has been altered, and no matter how hard you try you can never make a sandwich, or a piece of toast with it.

Next time you’re gossiping, accusing, put’n ‘em n ner place, or telling them they’re worthless, try to remember ole Grump and his crazy analogy. “You can’t unsmush bread.”

Till next time,

Grump

This entry was posted on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 8:41 am and is filed under Life Learned Lessons and Observations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.