Discussing the wonders of an ice cream cone with my granddaughter, Emma Louise.
Can We Talk?
Do you remember Joan Rivers? That’s what she used to ask in her comedy routines. “Can we talk?” was her way of segueing into something off-color (can I say that?), a little risque, or otherwise uncomfortable.
Can we talk?
You see, one of the deadliest viruses going around these days has nothing to do with COVID-19. It’s a virus that could be called “Social Lockjaw.”
People are too afraid to have honest and open conversations. People are afraid, regardless their opinions, to open their mouths.
Interestingly, the causes and symptoms of Social Lockjaw are eerily similar to actual Lockjaw (i.e., Tetanus).
Tetanus (Lockjaw) is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition brought about when spores from a particular bacteria inter the bloodstream after some form of intrusive injury. The bacteria is most common in rich soil and can enter the body and the nervous system through a puncture wound or cut (like stepping on a nail or getting dirt in an open wound).
Penicillin will kill the bacteria, but one of the most effective actions one can initially take to stave off infection is to immediately clean and rinse the wound with clean water.
Interestingly, there is a vaccine, but it only lasts so long. Therefore, a booster shot is needed every 10 years.
When Tetanus takes control of a body, one of the main symptoms is a tightening of the muscles in the neck and lower jaw, causing a person to be unable to open his mouth.
When people are harmed, and when the dirt of the world is left in a wound that is covered and never cleansed by the pure water of Truth, death is likely to occur, if not silence.
And, ironically, those who have been inoculated in the past and have dealt successfully with past wounds, even they must be re-inoculated with the vaccine of Truth on a regular basis.
Bullying and Intimidation
Wounds come from all kinds of sources. The wounds of racism (personal and institutional) have lingered for generations, and the spores of the bacteria that kills will always linger in the soil. Those wounds must be opened in order to be cleansed, and some of that, unfortunately, is happening right now.
But other wounds come about by blunt force trauma, such as with bullying and intimidation, allowing the bacteria resentment and bitterness to be mixed with fear, thereby making it more difficult to cleanse. But the washing of the wound with Truth is desperately needed. Without it, the wounded will never open their mouths and the disease will win.
The absolute worse thing that any side of any argument can do is be allowed to be beaten down and silenced. Social Lockjaw is not the answer: it’s the symptom of a deadly illness.
The now normal bullying and intimidation by those of the Left-wing are shaming the rest of society into timidity and Lockjaw as they accomplish their goals through forced compliance. And the more we allow the pokes, the jabs, the unchecked piercing accusations, and the raised-fisted blows to all things civil, the more severe the symptoms of Social Lockjaw will become.
Unless we cleanse our wounds with Truth… unless we wash away the bacteria of fear and self-loathing from the puncture wounds of the past, the life of our society will be suffocated by our own closed mouths.
If you know the Truth, then you have every right and responsibility to speak it. Or, die in silence.
To the right is a picture I just took of our kitchen table. I don’t know how your house works, but our kitchen table is a community gathering place. Yes, it’s a flat surface, so it’s likely to be the place where something is sat before it goes where it’s supposed to.
The Recovering Legalist 