James 3: Taming the Tongue

James 3 is all about the tongue and the unseen power of words over our lives.

At first I thought it strange that James opened with a message about being a teacher.

 “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” (verse 1) 

Teaching is something others need for guidance and mentoring. Why does he then launch into a chapter on the tongue, or the importance of the things we say? I think the short answer is that words are more central to our behavior than we realize. Our words direct our actions even when we don’t mean to. When you see yourself as a teacher to others it forces a rethink in how you speak to others, or at least it should.

James goes on to say that ships are turned by a small rudder. In the same way the tongue directs our actions. 

“The tongue is so set among our members it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; it is set on fire by hell.” (verse 6)

 This doesn’t just apply to the way we speak to others. That’s what really jumps out at first here, a warning to be nice to others and talk them up. For sure, we need to build up and not tear down but James is also talking about the negative words we say about ourselves, which is far more useful to me. I’m more careful about ripping others than I used to be. But it’s taken a while to speak positive, biblical truths about MY future and MY self-worth.

When I don’t see any movement on areas I’ve prayed over for years I get very disheartened and want to quit. A sense of ‘what’s the point’ can set in quickly as negativity forms bitter words. James isn’t impartial on the tongue. It’s clear to him that “No one can tame” it. Wisdom is key to controlling the words we use. Look to the Heavenly Father for direction and it will come out in the speech we use. It will bless others when we might want to curse them. It will build up where our instinct says to put down. It will renew our minds so our speech follows the direction we point it in. 

If the tongue is a rudder than we can control, only wisdom from above will provide the direction. Only God knows our course. We should point toward Him.

I’ve never thought of the tongue as something contrary to the Word of God. But negativity breeds negativity in speech. The opposite is also true with positive speech. James is saying is our thoughts aren’t as important as what we say. We can have evil foreboding thoughts but if we close them off before they reach the tongue it won’t have any effect. In other words control the thoughts before they turn into words. Steer them in the right direction.

How many times have I been frustrated with an employee over poor work habits or lazy behavior? When I allow those frustrations to stew I take it out on them, blast them for their worthlessness. How many times have a run myself down over silly mistakes? Reacting suddenly comes with baggage. Better to seek wisdom and take a few breaths. I guess that’s what being a teacher is about.

Not Pushing It

I’ve enjoyed these few days off and although I’m getting bored I managed to get a few painting projects. I can’t do too much more though. One irritation is the plantar fasciitis in my right heel. Yeah I had to goggle it. It's always a little sketchy to search the web by symptoms but in this case I'm certain.

 Were this a normal week I’d have run 3 to 4 times and probably shattered my old records. Instead I'm hobbling around the house gingerly and wincing with every needle like poke into my heel. I can trace my recent bruising to the long 17 mile run I did. 

What made me proud then makes me feel foolish now. I believe the last running post I did was called "pushing it" where I said the following phrase, "Sometimes it's good to push it." 

Right. 

As it turns out, sometimes its not.

I didn’t expect to be out for this long even with the painful experience. This Saturday will be 3 weeks since the last run. That run was cut a little short by excruciating heel pain. After that I decided to quit for a while. I got a used stationary bike since the gyms were closed and I had no other way or working out. It’s funny I never thought I would be one of these guys that just has to get a workout in.

 But good habits lead to good habits I guess. The bike lasted for exactly 3 spin class Youtube specials and the chain started grinding. So no more bike for a while.

I try to walk a little bit on the days I don’t work just to keep moving. What other choice do I have? Sleeping in late and taking a nap? Actually that sounds pretty good.

I’ve talked to people who have had plantar fasciitis and most say it goes away after a while. I’m not just waiting I'm praying too. I just started developing a routine of running with others, something I was always reluctant to do. The virus is the main culprit in all of this. Some from the group are still making up the distances from the program. I’m sure they’re spacing out in small groups. There is a schedule for those training for races later in the year. Races which are likely not happening as a good chunk of summer events have been washed out like a rural highway in a thunderstorm.

I’m sick of this damn virus. I don’t mean the disease itself, although that’s awful, I mean the reset we’ve been forced to endure in a ways we haven’t even seen yet. Work will likely ramp up in a few weeks. Businesses all over the country will reopen with restrictions, with new guidelines, with a fearful public. The last one is certainly the X factor. Do people just go back to life as normal and go to gyms, restaurants and ball games? I hope they do. But the fear of catching it still looms and shouting “All Clear!” after the hysteria of quarantines and daily death counts feels uneven.

It's not all bad though. I see people walking through my neighborhood with dogs on leases, pushing strollers and seeming more relaxed. When I see people jog by with their water bottles and digital watches I feel a pang of sadness. For a while anyway.

What's in a name

 I like companies with obvious names. "Joe's Pizza Shack" and "Smithfield Accounting" tell me what I need, no obfuscation. They come complete with locations and signs, phone numbers and websites. Not everyone takes this approach.

I remember going to a job interview in a dank lower level of a downtown building. I'd answered an ad to interview for this sales job with no idea what they sold. No sign advertising the company name or product or service was available. Thinking this was a bad omen and a maybe a bit dodgy, under my breath I managed “Well, I’ve come this far”. I filled out a short form and handed it to the woman in a dim office behind a stack of boxes. The interviewer finally called me in. He asked me how I spent free time and what-kind-of-person-are-you questions. “Um…well…you know I like running, writing, watching baseball. I grew up in Illinois, moved here for school, bought a house.” He asked a few life-work balance type questions, can you work long hours.  

I’m normally a ‘get to the point’ kind of guy but people looking for work can’t be picky. I kept my answers short, awkward as they were, but he was clearly dawdling. 

  

He wanted to know how much I wanted salary wise, ideally. Keep in mind, I’m still not sure what we do or how many hours we work. I put down a high-ish number and he glanced at it and said “Why so low?” Right then I decided I didn’t want the job. If I had less tact I would have tossed my hands up and said “I’m outta here!” I have a low tolerance for bullshit and the room was beginning to smell.

I stayed for a few more questions hoping for a graceful exit. Turns out the job was selling subscriptions for AT&T, but not through AT&T. I wouldn’t have gone to the interview if I’d known that. Nothing against that kind of work but it isn’t for me. The company name (which I can’t remember) revealed nothing about the type of work.

Opaque names like “Global Services Inc.” or “Web Industry Professionals” should be a red light to job seekers. I’ve learned this the hard way of course. To my mind there are few reasons for doing this.

With companies like AT&T they either farm their door to door stuff out to third parties because it’s cheaper or less messy. It might be both. Home owners hate door to door salesman. They knock on the door when you’re eating dinner and refuse to leave after a “thanks but I’m not interested”. When the salesman with the clipboard and eager pitch has a lanyard with the company logo around their neck it leaves a bad impression.

Corporations, always careful about appearances avoid the door to door label afraid of the blowback from angry customers who associate that brand with mid-dinner sales pitches. But straight commission jobs make the numbers easier for companies, no insurance or healthcare or taxes to pay up front.

A third reason is the lack of any responsibility connected with the sellers. I signed up for a service a few years after I moved into this neighborhood. Yes I know, I know, even after complaining about the tactics I took a quick look at the deal and thought “Oh, really? For how long, 6 months? Not bad. Sign me up!” I was lucky. My bill matched what the girl sold me. I only used it for the 6 month offering. The price shot up 30 percent after that. No surprise of course but I hoped to get an extension on the low rate. No dice. I sent the equipment back and bought an antenna. I don’t watch that much TV.

I looked at an AT&T forum to find out how others fared. Nearly all of them complain about being lied to. They turn around and complain to AT&T, who in turn treats the package seller like a mobster in witness protection “Who? What? No I don’t know him”. Customers often get told to call the person who sold the package and straighten it out. But they never answer the phone. It’s not like they have a corporate phone line anyway. The only number the customer has is from the salesman who sold the package. 

This is the real benefit for both parent company and seller. A franchisee that sells internet and TV packages isn’t really accountable to a larger corporate parent. I’m not implying that the business itself is underhanded. But I’d seen enough of their tactics to know I didn’t want any part of it.

First principles insists, quality companies won’t hide.

Now if a non-descript company posts an ad I Goggle it. If Goggle can’t find the company than the search is over.  

No Content No Problem

Normally I’d have written a sports piece by now. These aren’t normal times.

The Cubs would be in week 2. You can’t get a great sense of a team that soon but April baseball is still baseball. I can’t watch old replays of games from years ago. ESPN showed the classic ‘20 strikeout’ game Kerry Wood pitched in 1998. I couldn’t bring myself to watch it. I’m not one for re-living old games. Sure not having any sports is tough but I can’t go back there. Maybe a couple minutes of Michael Martinez hitting into a grounder in game 7 of the World Series. Chris Bryant scoops, throws; Anthony Rizzo catches and steps on the bag, celebration on. That last inning I’d watch, 2016 wasn’t that long ago. 

Yes I know how insufferable we are about ’16. I’m sure every Cardinals fan rolls their eyes when we say it, but how bout them Cubs!!?

I listen to a podcast by David Kaplan called Cubs Talk. It’s been awful since Corona. It’s a twice weekly show with no content to speak of. The guys are still putting out episodes but it’s like guys at the bar talking. The subjects are Cubs all-timers, funny player stories and team trivia. Not great, but then it’s hardly their fault. I’m impressed that they’re still putting out material. I’m not sure I could put together enough for two shows a week when the team isn’t playing, or practicing, or trading. 

All the 24/7 channels like Fox Sports and ESPN are doing work but it’s very lean. Fortunately there are some moves happening in the NFL, trade rumors and draft talk to report on. Normally I beat these guys up for focusing too much on silly non-sports stuff like Twitter wars amongst athletes. I’d kill for some of that gossipy stuff now. I feel genuinely bad for these hosts with really nothing to report on. They’ve resorted to just asking other hosts for opinions from their upstairs offices. The ‘studios’ are just laptop cameras, earbuds, poor audio and over-lit rooms.

Not being at work means I haven’t watched as much. Work for me means TVs at high volume and sports around the clock, it’s a sporting goods store after all. Being at home means less TV and fewer games, or at least less of the news and talk stuff early in the day. For most people it’s the other way around. 

I heard Kaplan say that when baseball finally does come back they’ll have to do another spring training before they can start the games. That seems odd to me. Why aren’t the players staying in shape during this quarantine phase? Maybe there is just something about game level speed that can’t be replicated without a full month of training. I’m sure this is true for pitchers but I doubt position players need to see a month of big league pitching to get right. Spring is usually a slow month for hitters anyway. When the weather warms up the averages climb, at least I think that’s right. But since everyone is slower I don’t see the problem with starting everyone as soon as possible. They have the same disadvantages after all.

There are more important aspects of life that need to get sorted out first. We need to get back to work for one thing. We need to earn money and find purpose again. Kids can’t be learning much from zoom lectures. Then again maybe the parents who can will see the benefits of homeschooling through all of this. It’s not an option for most but others can really thrive in a goal driven environment. Maybe some teachers will be able to create amazing lessons, upload videos and get great feedback from kids. Not having certain classroom distractions makes it possible to actually teach. This may be a blessing for some.

In the meantime my sports bug will just have to itch.

America's Changing Priorities

I replaced a few planks on my deck today.

 I’ve been taking advantage of the time off work. It’s just a good thing Lowes is still operational or I’d really get bored. Two years ago I replaced a couple of planks that started to warp, a year before that two more. I’m still a ways from having more replacement wood than original wood, but it isn’t far off either. This got me thinking, at what point does it become a new deck? How many new pieces of wood, or even screws, constitute a new addition?

This is an old paradox called ‘My Grandfather’s axe’. It’s the same problem, if I replace the handle and wrap it in tape is it still my grandfather’s axe? What if I replace the head and paint it? That’s what Coronavirus thinking gets you, new framework for old questions. There isn’t a good answer. It’s a thought experiment to show you how a thing, or idea, can retain some essential characteristic through time. At what point does America change enough to become a different country altogether? 

A lot of what comes from the quarantines and isolation is positive. I grilled some chicken and pork chops the other day and shared them with my neighbors who were both outside enjoying the weather. We chatted about the news, housing prices, good restaurants. I’d never met them before.

The lack of a place to go first thing in the morning allows me to read the Bible and write some commentary, just reflections mostly. I’m pulling more meaning out of it than ever before and it’s wonderful, necessary, about time. Also I’m eating more and not getting any gym time in so you know…it’s not all good. What the world looks like when we all get back to life will depend on how long we all holed up and waited for the all clear.

We’re kids sitting around the pool desperate for the lifeguard to blow the whistle and end 'adult swim'.

The longer it goes the more the country looks different. That time looks like at least 2 more weeks. I suspect state officials will push it back even further though. No one wants to be an outlier. Governors taking the ‘abundance of caution’ route look responsible with every new limit they impose. It never works the other way. That posture makes me think we’ll be at home longer than April. At least the governors’ call the shots. New York has different problems than Oklahoma so it doesn’t make sense to do this from Washington DC.

At what point does the country look significantly different? Are we just replacing a few planks or is this a bigger job?

The same way the 911 created a sense of dread about Islamic terrorism, we also came together like never before. We started taking national security seriously. Whatever the mistakes and excesses that followed, defense of the homeland was a primary concern.   

Change is coming to a few big areas. First, a decoupling from ‘China Inc’ and commitments to build, design and assemble elsewhere. This move away from the PRC is already in the works and has since at least Trump starting banging trade war drums after his election. Some companies (Google, Facebook) never got off the ground because of government restrictions and intellectual property theft. China still manufactures a lot that makes it way to our shores on a cargo ship, so decoupling will be gradual. It’s not a surprise that their paranoid, shut-down-all-dissent model of fixing problems is why we got Covid19 anyway.

Second, the US passed a 2 trillion dollar pork barrel recovery bill. Remember when Obama passed the TARP bill for $700 billion and everyone was like “That’s outrageous!!” Well they just tippled the offering and we all shrug like "Ahh, what can you do?". I get that TARP was for Wall Street and this bill is for everyone, but it’s ridiculous to spend that much. It’s more accurate to say borrow, we didn’t spend as much as borrow on the future. Somewhere in the $500 billion range would have covered payroll for a month (I think). Payroll is at least the stated goal. Figures like that suggest a raid on the treasury, Hans Gruber at Nakatomi Plaza style.

The worst part of big spending bills is the more we use them the more we get them.

Third, how many people will find opportunity not available before Corona? I’m hoping to add my name to that list as well. Maybe a side business or a chance that wasn’t there before. We need more small businesses owners in this country and most people have some skill or service to offer. It’s not possible for everyone to switch to working from home full time, but many will start. Routine drug refills and doctor visits have already shifted to an online customer portal (tele-medicine) for quicker access. I had to use it a couple of weeks ago since going to the hospital was out of the question.

Most of these changes are easy to spot because in some way, they’re already going that way. I’m curious about the essential character of American life though. The Coronavirus shutdown suggests at least, a benchmark for shifting priorities. 

Will it look basically the same in 50 years or have the fundamentals been stripped away like the old slabs of wood on my deck?