Posted by
peripheral on Friday, July 23, 2010 5:43:26 AM
From My Perspective - - -
If you cut the head off of a poisonous snake, is the snake dead? No!
Can its fangs still bite and excrete venom? Yes! Does a Constrictor
immediately lose its strength and grip? No! How much Arsenic (arsenic
and its compounds are used in insecticides, weed killers, solid-state
doping agents, and various alloys) or Strychnine (an extremely
poisonous white crystalline alkaloid used as a poison for rodents and
formerly used topically as a central nervous system stimulant) is
needed to bring about death in a person? Just a little administered
over an extended period of time! In 1944, the film Arsenic and Old Lace
was produced. “The lead character played by Cary Grant is Mortimer
Bruster. He is a newspaperman and author known for his diatribes
against marriage. We watch him being married at city hall in the
opening scene. Now all that is required is a quick trip home to tell
Mortimer's two maiden aunts. While trying to break the news, he finds
out his aunts' hobby; killing lonely old men and burying them in the
cellar. Mortimer finds a corpse hidden in a window seat and suspects
Teddy, but his aunts explain that they are responsible ("It's one of
our charities"). They have developed the "very bad habit" of ending the
presumed suffering of lonely old bachelors by serving them elderberry
wine spiked with arsenic, strychnine and just a pinch of cyanide. The
bodies are buried in the basement by Teddy, who believes he is digging
locks for the Panama Canal and burying yellow fever victims…” The point
is that the victim is unaware of the presence of the poison or its
deadly consequence until it is too late for remedy.
A news story yesterday describes: One dead jellyfish wreaked havoc on a
New Hampshire beach this afternoon, stinging close to 150 people, most
of them children, and sending five to the hospital, fire officials
said. Rye, N.H., emergency officials received the call around 1:30 p.m.
that 125 to 150 people, including children and a few adults, at Wallis
Sands State Park had been stung by a jellyfish…Park officials had tried
to remove a large dead jellyfish from the water earlier in the day, but
it broke apart and the floating pieces stung the children in the
water…The jellyfish was roughly the size of a cover of a trash can…
Lifeguards treated the majority of the children with vinegar and baking
soda…Five children were transported to Portsmouth Regional Hospital as
a precaution over allergy concerns…Several summer youth groups had made
a trip to the beach today…No one could remember the last time they had
experienced a jellyfish sting in the area, let alone nearly 150…” Once
again, no one knew of the presence of the Jelly Fish remains or that
its stingers could still cause pain, discomfort and other result.
In public discourse, Denigration and Contamination have entered and
dominate both thought and attitude. Some cringe each time racial slurs
or accusations surface, and when the word Nazi is bandied about. The
use of these terms polarizes the public, while attempting to gain
support from minority ethnic groups. There is little regard for the old
wounds and scars that are reopened; nor for the pain that is inflicted
that will enrage some who have no meaningful context, historical
knowledge or experiential background that attaches to these references.
Words have consequence and can be just as deadly as a dosage of
arsenic, strychnine or cyanide. The Bible speaks of these things in
precise terms. In James 3:5-6, we read: “…the tongue is a small part of
the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is
set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of
evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets
the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by
hell.” The Message Translation renders these verses with these words:
“A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish
nearly anything - or destroy it! A careless or wrongly placed word out
of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn
harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in
smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.” In
Luke 12:1-3, Jesus warned against the leaven of the Pharisees, which is
hypocrisy, and how it could and would contaminate others. In Galatians
5:9, Paul echoes this concern when he wrote: “A little leaven leavens
the whole lump.” Words used carelessly, randomly, recklessly or
purposefully can and will prevent civil discourse beyond ones
calculation! Be careful what you say and when you say it! Consider
these things with me!