The bottom line is at the bottom:
Language, better yet, communication is so important ... our human ability to use the complex and yet subtle, words and gestures, sets us apart from the animal kingdom. Language, words, can motivate goodness and love or can sets afire the terror of hate. We can all relate how the pen can be mightier than the sword.
Throughout history there has been a constant strain between the civil and sublime. The civil show restraint under fire, maintian the peace in times of tension, the civil are the damping walls that mellow the waves of storms ... the sublime push the envelop of creativity another step, another level in order to break free of restraint while remaining within the boundaries of what can be tolerated in order to achieve beauty. Both the civil and the sublime have their place and their balance. Civility tames the sublime, and the sublime motivate the civil to new highs.
Some people screw it all up ... they think that by their vulgar wreckless crass comments that they are rejecting stuffy boring people [translated the civil], and that somehow they are walking the path of the free and creative spirit [the sublime]. What they exhibit is shear stupidity and carelessness of others and themselves. They are like trainwrecks waiting to happen ... they are the sort who demand their right to a drivers license ... then when behind the wheel of words, they drive like drunken sailors, smashing and hurting anyone who gets in their way.
Language Evolution of the last half century: In the 1950s we were taught to be southern gentlemen ... and people who lived and spoke otherwise were from the 'other side of the railroad tracks' ... by the 1960s the other side of the tracks types were relabeled trailer trash ... by the 1970s trailer trash were young but tolerated social rebels ... by the 1980s the social rebels morphed into maintstream as the 'in' crowd ... by the 1990s, the civil and sublime were no longer recognizable ... the young rebels now had everyone boxed into acceptance and tolerance of anything in the name of equality and fairness, in the spirit of sensitivity and creativity. If your sense of civility rejected anything you were labeled a snob ... if your sublime creativity could not accept the naked rude crass style, you were labeled an old fart, a stick in the mud. We did not reduce prejudice, we merely changed roles.
Full circle: Somehow, today, in the far distant horizon, there seems to be a new found love for the civil and sublime returning. There appears a light at the end of the tunnel that we hope will not be just another freight train of social collision.
Achieving civility and the sublime means that a person discovers commmon sense ... they finally know how to act discreetly and and wisely (no connection to the FDS ) ... they learn when a little wry humor can be slipped through and be funny ... and when they must draw back to be kind or watchful lest they inadvertantly cause hurt by their words. They understand that by yielding to the good interests of others, that they do not have to sacrifice their own needs ... they learn that there is a time to stand up, speak straightforwardly, and take a stand ... but while so doing, they can still be civil and sublime and without compromising their equality or social standing ...
Today, the economy of language and short sound bites reduces the civil and sublime into one word: Class ... Class is something that we either have or do not have, we either are or are not. While the lack of class will be tolerated for a time, will be seen as funny at times, and will be accepted for a time as 'just the way we are' ... in time the lack of class catches up with us ... and we are either forced to change or to return to the other side of the tracks ...
Oddly enough, the people who have class need no laws against libel or slander as they know how to act ... they are more likely to live by the spirit of the law ... whereas those who need the law never seem to get it ... and they find themselves constantly at odds with the law, and keep wondering why.
Some fear that class, civility and the sublime, will inhibit their freedom of expression, will hinder thier ability to communicate their ponderings and creative thoughts ... that somehow they will not achieve the social nirvana they so desire ... nothing could be further from the truth ... for civility and and the sublime are the railing and stairsteps out of the gutter and into fullness of life ... they are the pic and string that allow a person to play their tune to the listening [or reading] audience ... civility and and the sublime are the ringing instruments that allow people to remember us when we are gone ... they are the tools that allow us to make our mark and not be forgotten. Civility and the sublime allow people to see, not just our inner soul, but its beauty.
Bottom Line:
The Civil: Speak objectively and professionally, such as doctors discussing the digestive tracts and the ejection of excrement.
The Sublime: Help you see the goodness, by adding blue to the toilet water and herbal fragrance to remove the unpleasant odor.
The Crass and Classless: They take the refuse from the bathroom, run out into the audience and throw feces in their faces ... and then expect the crowd to applause and cheer their great artistry.
