I swore like a sailor.

Hi Reader,
I wear flip-flops and shorts 99% of the time. I wear baseball caps backwards. I'm comfortable eating with my hands. I blow my nose in public. I consider myself to be pretty casual. But one thing I tend not to do is use profanity. I don't have any qualms with it. I just don't use it...Well, unless I lose my footing on some rocks and start sliding down a steep hill, or I fall into a freezing cold river in the dark. Even then, I feel like I usually just tuck and roll, and bail quietly. Dunno why. Quiet is just my thing.

Anyway, swearing doesn't bother me, and those who toss the occasional f-bomb into conversations don't offend me, either. However, for many people, cussing can be off-putting, triggering a slurry of negative responses, and sometimes ending interactions altogether.

I recently decided to run a very informal social experiment, interlacing as many curse words as possible into my usual encouraging Facebook posts for an entire day. Folks who I rarely or never interact with online chimed-in, or left a thumbs-up or heart or huggy-person under the posts. But others who usually pop-in to leave a reaction or comment seemed to be MIA, although I did receive text messages from concerned friends, noting that the swearing sounded extremely angry and unlike me.

This was not a scientific study at all whatsoever, and my interpretations of the results are purely speculative. But I'm sure you can think of words or phrases other people use that evoke in you experiences and feelings of disgust, anger, fear, and more. The language may even shut you down, preventing you from listening to others and the very important messages they're trying to convey to you.

Amidst today's polarizing social and political climate, I've become increasingly aware of the language that shutters my own ability to listen with care, and I'm continually working to remain fully-attentive regardless. How about you?

Peace,
Tommy

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