On Words to Watch

Words are power. Beware the words.

Here are three words that lead to trouble.

The Problem of Pride

Watch pride, the word. 

Everyone seems to be proud. Victorious sports teams celebrate with pride. Parents speak with pride about their children’s accomplishments. Companies that seek success do so by instilling pride in their workers. Pride is everywhere and everyone has it.

While Americans reject what most of history has deemed virtues, we have exalted one historical vice and proclaimed it the virtue above all virtues: pride. Gotta have pride!

Watch pride. The proverb is not without substance: pride comes before the fall. (Proverbs 16:18) At the heart of most ancient tragedies you will find pride or, as the ancients labeled it, hubris.

Pride focuses on self and personal accomplishment. Pride claims merit or worth by the one who is proud. Pride shows itself in boasting.

Pride dwelt at the heart of the first sin: we shall be like God.

Sure, when people use the word pride they often, but not as often as you might think, do not mean hubris. Maybe they are “happy” that their team won. Maybe they are “thankful” that the kids did well in school. Maybe they are “tickled” that work has gone so well. Then use those words. Be precise in what you mean. The unseemly side of pride always lurks behind the most casual use of the word.

Paul, speaking against pride, wrote, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” As a representative of Jesus you want all you do to bring attention to him, not to yourself. You want to encourage your people to do the same. 

Avoiding the word “pride” will help you to avoid the vice of pride. Find another word. Do all that you can to eliminate the word from your daily language and your reactions to life’s experiences. You will be surprised what a challenge this is. Choose from these words instead: glad, thankful, happy, surprised, tickled, excited.

The Problem of Fun

Fun has become the measure of everything. Listen carefully to the culture for a day and hear how often fun is mentioned. Things must be fun if they are to be viewed as having value or worth. Whatever it is, if it isn’t fun, it isn’t good. Whatever it is, no matter how bad it might be, if it is fun, it is good.

School has to be fun. Family life has to be fun. Work has to be fun. Worship has to be fun.

If fun is indeed the measure of all things, every good thing is dead in the water.

Don’t over hear me. I am not suggesting that school and family life and work and worship have to be miserable or that it is bad if they happen to be fun. I am suggesting that a thing’s value should not be determined by the relative presence or lack of fun.

It is a shame that teachers must first figure out how to make teaching fun before they can focus on student learning. If school always has to be fun, teachers are toast. Marriages built on fun will crumble. Fun drives the disastrous preoccupation that our culture has with games and sports. We live in a land at play.

Being driven by the need for fun is closely connected with narcissism which is a close cousin to hubris which is a full-blown version of pride. Hmmmm….

Avoid the word “fun.” Say you had a good time. Share an enjoyable experience. When working on a project or with a team it is good to do what you can to gain and maintain interest, but don’t worry about making it fun. Find a different word and a different goal than fun.

The Problem of Try

Try too? Can the word try be a bad word? What in the world can be wrong with the word try?!?

Try reigns supreme in the realm of weasel words. Try is like a get out of jail free card.

Sure, I will try to come to your party. (Now you are free to blow it off, since you “tried” to get there.) I promise I will try to get the work done by tomorrow. (Now there is no accountability or predictability about that work—or the worker. The promise was only to try.) I will try harder next time to be better. (This is neither an apology for failing nor a commitment not to fail in the future.)

As Christians we must be dependable. We must be people of our word. When we give our word, we must mean it and fulfill it. If you cannot commit to something without using the word try, do not commit to it. Live by the words “Under promise and over deliver.” Or as that great philosopher Yoda said, “Do or do not; there is no try.”

Three simple words: pride, fun, try. Eliminating them from your language or using them only sparingly and intentionally will add significance and power to all that you do.

Never ever forget words are power. Use them well. Use them carefully.

For further reading:

Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman