Posted by
Skypilot on Friday, December 08, 2006 1:52:45 PM
Your life will be strong and productive...like a "healthy fruit tree planted next to a river," if you follow the advise of godly people, associate with godly people and maintain a gracious attitude. Psalm 1:1-3
Napolean supposedly said...in order to justify the brutality of his campaigns..."in order to make an omelette, one must break a few eggs."
How convenient...living life as a metaphor. In truth, we know Napolean was not making omelettes when he was invading the countries of Europe. The metaphor did, however, allow him to excuse his behavior. After all...who can disagree? Just try to make an omelette without first breaking the eggs.
The reality is we all speak in metaphors. When I say my desk is a "disaster area" I am using a metaphor. There is nothing wrong with doing this. Metaphors are intended to illustrate and illuminate. They provide a "common word picture" of the object being described. The value is, it helps you and I find "common ground" with respect to the state of my desk...if you care. When I was taking Clinical Pastoral Education units the notion of metaphors took center stage. As a counselor, it is virtually impossible to accurately hear what somebody is saying without identifying the metaphors in their story...and pursuing the meanings of the metaphors. Metaphors are not intended to be taken literally but they are intended to be used with precision as they illuminate something literal..
I am concerned that our society has become irresponsibile in how we apply our metaphors. We no longer use them to find "common ground." As I listen to our media it seems the metaphors are no longer meant to illustrate or illuminate, but to mislead or obfuscate. Last night I heard a popular radio personality refer to our president as a "son of a Bush." Here is a metaphor that may seem "cute" in a coarse culture but belies the real nature and value of metaphor. It doesn't illustrate or illuminate anything other than the speaker's crude bias...and make our president an object of derision. The focus has been taken away from the object being described. When that happens a person can basically say anything...without constraint. The first casualty is the truth. This same commentator referred to our president as a "moron." Well, we also know that is not truth.
While abusing metaphors may result in popularity in certain circles it is only a sign of laziness and lack of discipline...and the cost is high. In misappropriating a valuable tool for communication we dilute its value for communicating important truths and encourage misunderstanding. Allow me to suggest that we take one of our more precious tools for communication and handle it with great care. After all, we are reminded to "let our yes be yes and our no be no."
Don't let your "yes" be a "figure of speech."