AN APOLOGY AND AN EXPLANATION

Blog number 423 **** 26 September, 2010

I just went back to the very beginning of my foray into Blog writing and started editing the entries until they are where I am comfortable with them. I deleted a few - some excerpts from books, some that were nonsense, things like that.

I realized it took me a while when I first started writing in my Blog, never having done such a thing before, to get into the swing of things. I am now at the point where I am comfortable with the entries.

One thing I noticed was that I used some fairly raw language back then. It didn't seem raw at the time to me, but since coming here to Casa Grande to live, I have had frequent contact with a person who has become my language moral guide. He has made me a little more civilized, I guess. The only real problem I have with any of his no-nos is the one about taking the Lord's name in vain. Two things about that. Well, three, actually.

One, I cannot imagine that anything as powerful and complete and loving as God would have a problem with whatever His creations would call Him, or say about Him. Or anything we might do or say about anything. All this seems kinda petty of Him to me.

Two, "in vain" means doing something which doesn't work. Somehow, down through the ages, it got twisted into nonsense. "In vain" now means, "don't call Me that." But only in relation to God. Otherwise it still means the same thing it has always meant.

And three, censoring common sayings in the language which is being used in writing severely interferes with the poetic sense of the writing. It's like typing with a sore finger.

This is true also of the spoken word. I guess though, it would be more like speaking with a sore tongue rather than a sore finger.

I would really like to have my entries read like anything you might find in a newspaper. In the beginning, I didn't care much about what words I used, wishing only to produce interesting and/or funny pieces. When I went back and edited those old entries, I tried to delete any words that a newspaper would not allow. I don't think I got them all, but I tried. I am not as perfect as I used to be.

So don't be afraid to look into the archives. I've cleaned it up especially for you. Smells like Pine Sol in there now.