Thoughtful Readings

Several days each week I open my computer to read the Wall Street Journal's free online newsletter OpinionJournal OpinionJournal@wsj.com I find it usually well written and thought provoking. As an author I know how hard it is to write welcoming prose about non fiction. Yet, the Wall Street Journal writers seem to pull it off again and again on issues with which I am interested.

For example, one entry has to do with faith during war time. It was written by Andrew Carroll and has a penetrating view of warriors whose faith is tested during times of chaos and pain.

Another article is written by the ever insightful and delightful writer Peggy Noonan. In this issue she discusses the unfortunate results of a nation being under the throes of Political Correctness and Unbridled Rudeness/Crudeness. Both the Left Wing, Bill Maher and the Right Wing Ann Coulter are examples, have devolved into harmful verbal attacks on each other. Despite the mindless and punitive establishment of hate speech laws and harsh realities of censorship on a few forbidden words our public discourse is spiraling into more and more gutter talk unfit for human consumption.

To Peggy's list I will add many Christians who regularly violate the Bible passage that commands us to "Let nothing come out of your mouth that does not edify..." I will also add that I continually find many of these crude commentators to be pedantic and mindless. I saw people in my psychiatric hospital with more flexibility and soundness of thought than Shaun Hannity, Ann Coulter and Bill Maher. The people dragged before TV cameras to speak for "balance" about politics and religion are anything but balanced. No wonder that Peggy Noonan finds public discourse so harsh and crude. It is all we see and hear on radio and TV.

Back in the early Seventies my friend Rich Walters and his colleagues at the University of Georgia did extensive research on the power of speech to touch others emotionally. In an attempt to test whether or not the writer of Proverbs was scientifically accurate or just using poetic license when he wrote, "Death or life are in the power of the tongue" they developed scenarios for actors to read to listeners that were alternately harsh or caring.

The listeners were hooked up to a machine that recorded the size and movement of the pupil when they heard the statements. They discovered that harsh talk did result in an automatic threatening response of the pupil while a caring word was automatically received with physical relaxation. So, no wonder the Bible urges us to interact with love, mercy and grace.

Finally, there is a great article by Bret Stephens called The Great Depression. In it Mr. Stephens writes about a research study trying to get at depression rates around the world. According to the study, the wealthiest nations with the highest standards of living may also be the unhappiest. If recent celebrity crises are any indication of who is happy and sad then the multimillionaires in Hollywood are definitely in the most depressed mode. Brittany Spears, Anna Nicole Smith, Paris Hilton and Mickey Rourke as well as countless others have amassed millions only to use their fame and fortune to seek artificial happiness in alcohol and drugs.

When we think about the overwhelming amount of negative and crude talk that fills the airwaves and iPods in discussions and music it may be no mystery why our depression rates are so high. We can thank God that in most instances the talk among Christians and in churches is much more peaceful and loving. Perhaps that is why depression and anxiety as well as abuse and divorce among church going believers are lower than those who sleep in on Sundays.

If you want to enjoy life more and be happy for the rest of your life, be nice and be with nice people. Also, turn off the TV shows with ranting hosts and crude "comics". Attend a loving church and speak to others in upbuilding ways.