Will Adams - Online » Personal Growth

Word Crimes – Part Three

Will — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:46:48 +0000

Today, the hunger for scandal is fueled by the media and the masses who consume the inane babble that passes for news. To be fair, the news networks have a lot of time and space to fill up. And ratings count…a lot. The ‘man bites dog’ type of report always will get a lot of attention.

Our media loves “polarization”. Republicans versus Democrats. Pro-Life versus Pro-Choice. Young versus old. You get it. Tell a story that pits one side against another for the ratings and subsequent ad revenue. The positive accounts get one small shot in the ‘human interest’ section. They’re forgotten about as soon as next news cycle starts. Rarely will the media follow up on those stories.

Unlike simpler times, the media today instantly reaches millions of pairs of hungry eyes and ears around the globe. The word gets out really fast. Remember how the Iranian government tried to control the news about a recent election? The truth got out to the world 140 characters at a time via Twitter.

The media recites the same wicked narrative time and time again until the truth is blurred beyond recognition. Frequently, no fact checking is done. Lazily, the wire reports are regurgitated onto the evening news.

Here’s some truth for you. If you were to watch the news media constantly, you’d still only know a small, a really small,

fraction of what has happened in the world.

But the piranhas of sensationalism continue to seek out and smell the perfume of immorality from around the world. They’ll compile and report the sin, disgrace, and foolishness of anybody. They chew them up, spit them and throw them out defenseless for the world to see. Then, they leave and move on to the next juicy tidbit.

Facts don’t seem to count. The media’s perverted memories and fertile imaginations make the actual reality of the the world seem tame compared to their sleazy inventions.

It’s even getting tricky to give a donation to charity. When a rich man makes a donation, they’ll say: “He’s just doing that to get his name in the news in order to help his business.” If he tries to give anonymously, they say; “It’s just some millionaire whose smart enough to know that withholding his identity will make people even more curious. It’ll slip out later just who gave the donation.” If he chooses not to chip anything in to charity, they’ll say: “See, he’s stingy with his money, exactly like the rest of those fat-cats.”

You just can’t win here.

To the rumourmongers who circulate gossip and slander, virtue is always a mask and noble ideas are a pretense. Generosity is considered a bribe.

When you stand for virtue and noble ideas, you must expect to be a target for inevitable envious attacks by those with elastic principles. Those bad actors are often careful to take their time, establishing a trail of circumstances made to make you appear guilty.

Then they ambush you, backed up by contant lies of envy and malice that now ravage the reputation of their

target…you.

Haven’t you occasionally said, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” to confirm your own hasty judgements? Be very careful here. The fire might be the fire of malice, fueled by the gasoline of envy which winds up burning an innocent and superior man.

“The way of a superior man is three-fold. Virtuous, he is free from anxieties. Wise, he is free from perplexities. Bold, he is free from fear.” -Confucius, Chinese philosopher. 551 – 479 B.C.

Word Crimes – Part Two

Will — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:34:42 +0000

Scandal is malice. It should be a felony, even though the weapon is “only” words. Every person who spreads scandal,

instantly pays a steep price for passing it on. The price is becoming jaded to the truely honorable and beautiful parts of life and the world.

A person like that will fail to experience the joy of charity. They think every act of others comes from the lowest imaginable motive. They don’t believe in the admirable qualities in other people. They don’t understand how people can act in noble ways because they themselves lack any nobility of their own.

They’re like carrion flies. Carrion flies will pass over a flower garden to feast on a piece of rancid meat! They’ve acquired the nose and the taste for the distasteful food they eat. The person who repeats scandal has also aquired a nose for the distasteful.

Night after night, damaged people may cry themselves to sleep. Strong and noble hearts suffer in silence. There are many gentle, sensitive people whose souls have been burned and warped. Long-time friends have gone their separate ways.

All their hope is gone. Memories of what should have been haunt their thoughts. There are bitter misunderstandings that make life appear bleak, dreary, and not worth living. And this is only a short list of the many felonies and misdomeaners of word crimes.

A virtuous and honest man always stands up for what he believes in. He has taken the time to get to know himself very well. He would never consider a diabolical plan that lets evil appear where earlier, nothing but good existed.

It only takes a few casual words of scandal or a knowing look of the eyes, to make once friendly hands grow cold. A warm caring smile gets replaced by a sneer. There you stand. Alone with a dazed feeling of insecurity from a vague, intangible something that has caused it all. And you can’t figure out where it all began.

Tomorrow, Why bad news travels so fast…

Word Crimes – Part One

Will — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 12:59:26 +0000

Shoot a man with a gun and only his body is killed by the bullet. The shot is a single event…it happens once.

Then it’s over. But the deadliest force of a society has never been the gun. In this contest, the gun is an “also ran”.

To kill you while you live, your enemy applies the first most lethal force…words. A gun works by itself, but words

may have many willing accomplices lying in wait along the road. Your enemies and opponents are ready and waiting

to kill your reputation and clobber your character for their own gain.

Isn’t it ironic? Both the good and the evil of words can affect people for a very long time. Do you remember a nice thing said to you as a child? How does the memory of those words make you feel now…many years after the event?

What are word crimes? They’re unkind words. Words of anger, malice, envy, bitterness, brutal criticism, gossip, and of

course the big two…lying and scandal.

Common crimes, theft, assault, murder, etc. are terrible when they happen. They cause a lot of pain and anguish for the

victims and the people who love them. Yet each year the hurt and distress caused by common crimes is dwarfed when

compared with the emotional trauma caused by word crimes.

In the case of a robbery or an assult, usually only a few people suffer, even indirectly. But haven’t we all been hurt by the careless words of a friend, or the harsh words of an enemy? No one is immune from the pain words of spite cause; especially when uttered by some close friend, family member, or someone we respect.

Hope you’re ready for this. There are people who are secretly envious of you. Yes YOU. Really. They’re jealous of your success, your possessions, or your problem free life (if they only knew…). They’ll assault you with insinuations, slurs, half-truths in order to destroy your reputation in order to make them feel superior. ..for a while. Then they need another victim to feed on.

For some people, it’s an aquired habit – a state of mind they picked up at one time in their life. Sometimes they don’t even realize they’re doing it, but sometimes, they know exactly what they’re doing. The result reminds me of parasites who quietly, but certainly drain the life from their victim.

Their methods are cowardly. It’s like poisoning someone a little but at a time. Each individual act is seemingly insignificant. Their victim isn’t paying close attention or on guard against them. Soon enough, the fatal effect of the poison takes hold and it’s too late.

Remember Gulliver’s Travels, where Gulliver wound up trapped by dozens of tiny ropes? The cumulitive effect does the real damage. The effect of small digs and insinuations work this way.

More About Self-Control

Will — Tue, 18 May 2010 20:30:33 +0000

Dealing with the trials of daily life demands patience from a man. With self-control, his reserve is built up for the crisis’s that inevitably occur. When we practice self-control, the mental, physical, or moral energy we use everyday, is all stored for us and changed into strength. It can never accept a full cash payment for anything because it would be unfair to the poor and the weak.

It is only by small, progressively more powerful steps can we break the mold of our past self. We’re told it takes twenty-one days to break out from a habit. Rarely does it happen all at once. It takes development and growth. But at any moment we can begin to make or break any habit.

If we really want to grow our character, it is comforting to know that many men through the ages have pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and have achieved their dreams.

Self-control is developed the same way we develop a strong muscle from a weak one. Using small exercises day after day. Let’s do exercises every day to strengthen our discipline or morals. Let’s do something we don’t really want to do so that when we need our strength, we can spring into instant action.

Try some of these simple exercises to develop our self-control:

* Put down a book you’re reading at the most exciting part of the story.
*Jump out of bed without hitting the snooze button two or three times.
*If you’re able to walk home instead of taking the car.
*Talk to someone you don’t particularly like and attempt a pleasant conversation.

You will achieve self-control in big things only by self-control in little things. It’s important to get to know yourself to discover where your strengths and weaknesses are. Figure out what it is within you that keeps you from reaching your best results. Know that and you know where to start your journey toward self-control. Are you selfish, vain, cowardly, morbid, lazy, worried, unfocused, have a hot temper, or the most dangerous of all – Do you suffer from a lack of purpose?

You must discover your weaknesses, then live in the now each and every day. Focus on one day at a time. It’s useless to regret the past. useless to worry about the future. Live your day as if it were your only day – the only day to do your very best – the only day to master your worst traits.

When you work on your weaknesses moment to moment, then every moment will be a victory for the master or the slave in you. What’s it going to be Bucky? The answer lies within you.