Gossips and Bullies (a poem about all of us)

You ever notice that taming our tongue is something that most of us struggle with? We want to tell the secret, we want to gloat over something bad that happens.  We want to say "they deserve it?"  We want to, deep in the heart of us.  We are all just the same.  All pitifully human.   That's why we all desperately need a God who is Holy.  Because at the heart of us, we're all just gossips and bullies and hurt children who believe their lies.

This is my rant about the things we say and believe.



Our mothers always told us
"Sticks and stones"
"May break our bones."
"But words can never harm us."

They didn't tell us
that boo boos can be kissed away.

But words carry on,
they make scars you cannot see.
They speak  without tongues
in the dark parts of us.

Repeating.
Again and again
until we decide to believe them.

We are all guilty.
at one time or another.

Because we feel like less,
we make others less than we are. 

Problem is
Less than less isn't very much at all.

we turn everything around so it seems like it's not our fault.
It's everyone else who's wrong.

Not us.

That's how we look at ourselves in the mirror.
That's how we sleep at night.

We say "I only speak my mind."
"That's just the way I am."

We justify cruelty
by calling it "honesty".

We hurt people.

We look respectable but we're just what we were in elementary school.
A part of us never really outgrew that insecure child.

We sit in an office or or behind a desk
you see us on the street or next to you in a pew
and we act like we're okay.

But we can't control that impulse.
We can't curb our tongue.
We have to do it because
somewhere inside all of us
we're unhappy.

And unhappy people only find pleasure in making others unhappy too.

Misery loves company they say
and misery kicks others when they're down.

Because if there's someone lower than me,
then I must be okay.

They say there's honor among theives
but not among gossips and bullies.

 James 1:26
Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues lest they deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.