“9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.“ (James 3:9-10)
One way to change your life is to change your mind. One sign of a changing mind is a changing tongue. Years ago I was a swearer. I wasn’t a major profanity person but I used some language. And yes, I was a Christian then too. Then I found out I was going to be a father so I made the decision to change. If I was going to tell my child to be a certain way, shouldn’t I be the living example of that way?
To do this I made certain to not fill my life with things that were filled with what I didn’t want. I changed my music listening, reading, TV viewing. No, I didn’t become a fanatic about it, but I did make deliberate decisions. An example would be TV. If a show happened to have a bad word in it as part of a scene because the scene was emotional or something, okay, I got it. If the whole show was laced with it, and had scenes that sensationalized things it shouldn’t, I stayed away.
The same thing went for music. Although for that I mostly went to Contemporary Christian music. I like it. I still listen to my old 80s music for fun. And there are some music acts I like even now. But I still heed my initial parameters. And let me tell you, it is sad when you hear a song with a good beat and then they start in with the language or sexist or derogatory content.
You can’t be two minds on a matter or it comes out in your language. If you give lip service to a subject you will get found out. People like to think you are what you are. No, you are what you turn yourself into. It’s been over a decade since I made myself a promise to watch my language. I continue to fulfill that promise. I’m still cautious of my viewing and listening indulgences. I figure if I’m not participating, that’s one less vote, so to speak, for that type of content.
Do you think you can change your life by changing your mind? Can you change your views of the world by changing your mind? Pick something this week that you know you shouldn’t be doing or saying and work at altering your life by finding out why you say that and then stop. For me, I found that by not having all those music and TV influences I was able to easily stop using language, even when people around me at work were using it. See what you can do this week.
“Trouble is a sieve through which we sift our acquaintances. Those too big to pass through are our friends.”- Arlene Francis
In a recent article I noted Dorothy Kilgallen asked “Why can’t I be the adorable one?”; the adorable one in the situation was Arlene Francis, her co-panelist on the game show ‘What’s My Line?’. It wasn’t a competition or an intentional attempt by Francis to be the charming and personable one; that was how she was.
A great many women are seen as the groundbreakers of Television; the name Arlene Francis doesn’t appear among those names to current generations. Arlene Francis was:
Hosted ‘Blind Date’ from 1949-1952 on ABC and then NBC, after being the radio host of the same show since 1943.
A panelist on ‘What’s My Line?’ from 1950 until 1975 on CBS.
The editor-in-chief and host of ‘Home’ from 1954-57, a one hour morning show that was a show for NBC viewers to compliment the ‘Today’ and ‘Tonight’ shows. She also stepped in for ‘Today’ show hosts as well as guest hosted the Tonight Show.
In 1954 she hosted the reality show ‘The Comeback Story’ on ABC.
If you read that closely, you see she was on all three networks at the same time.
And all of those were sidelines. She was also a Broadway star, movie actress, radio host, and author.
During the 1950s, Newsweek put her on the cover as the “first lady of television”. You need to remember something very important about this time; Lucille Ball was a big hit with ‘I Love Lucy’.
People naturally loved Arlene. She didn’t try or take herself too seriously to the point of not being able to have fun in front of the camera as herself. Then there was that strength you knew would come out when it needed to.
Her radio career predated television, and her The Arlene Francis Show ran from 1960 to 1984 where she interviewed people from her first guest in Rock Hudson through others such as Frank Sinatra.
Her husband wasn’t the tall, dark and handsome type, although a great Broadway actor. No, he was short, balding, slightly overweight, wore glasses, and an average sort looks wise, but highly intelligent. That was another part of her charm; she went for the real and what she liked, not image. She and Martin Gabel stayed married from 1946 until his death in 1986.
You don’t stay the love of the public for so long without charm. Dorothy Kilgallen was smart, tough, and personable enough, but you could see her trying hard to be something a bit more; she wanted acceptance in a way she wasn’t. On ‘What’s My Line?’, you would see Dorothy and Arlene alternate sitting next to Bennet Cerf, the founder and publisher of Random House. Dorothy would wear on Bennet’s nerves, and you can see him ignore her suggestions. Everyone wanted to sit next to Arlene. She was fun, and not intrusive.
I think Dorothy was never comfortable in her own skin, while Arlene was comfortable anywhere.
For a woman known for knowing so much, her life came to an end in 2001 from cancer and Alzheimer’s.
“…apathy is about as near to the undertaker as you can get.” – Arlene Francis
“People are much more fascinated by your interests than they are by your opinions.”
Part of #BeWoW and Writer’s Quote Wednesday. Click HERE for more Quotes on SilverThreading.com hosted by Colleen Chesebro. See the comments here for any links to more #BeWoW articles and check out the hashtag on Twitter to ReTweet those positive posts that apply to the #BeWoW message of positivity sharing.
Is there a better decade than the 80s? That’s not really a question. It’s one of those rhetorical things. You know, like asking which is better, Coke or Pepsi. We all know it’s Coke. Yes, I stand before you . . . I sit before you a child of . . . a teen of the 80s. (Hey, I was fetus in 69.)
It’s time for a walk down memory lane. I made a funny there. tee hee hee. Okay now on with the show and just a bit of nostalgia time. I literally have no idea where this is headed so let’s see what I come up with.
That’s right everyone MTV. You think you guys are so cool with all your music and things. Well my generation made it happen. That’s right. I wanted my MTV first. Yeah, Music Television. Not sure what it is now. Okay enough of that gif, I think I might get sick. Before MTV there was Friday Night Videos and when I say night I mean NIGHT. It was so night it was actually Saturday when they came on. Before MTV I had no idea what She Bop meant. Thank you Cyndi Lauper. I know, some of you just asked “Who’s Cyndi Lauper?”
This is not Cyndi Lauper.
And if you mention MTV you have to mention Madonna. Oh yeah, back when she actually looked good for real. Miley Cyrus and all you other wannabes, this is the originator of controversy and she did it for real, not for being an adolescent trash bag. Yeah, I said it. Mean much? Yeah, I can be. Just disappointed in what could have been an awesome talent. I wonder if Madonna knows what She Bop means.
The most awesome video ever Aha’s Take On Me. I still geek out whenever I come across this on the internet. If for some reason you haven’t seen it, you need to look it up. This is consistently voted one of the top music videos of all time. From my understanding the guy didn’t even speak English, he just learned to sing the song in English. Well if that’s so, then he did a rockin’ job.
Max Headroom, stop laughing. How many almost computer animated characters had their own show in the 80s? Yeah, that’s him. A show ahead of its time and that’s probably why it got away with some of the cheesy looks, but it was cool.
That is some serious major ampage there dude.
Oh, it’s Marty. Back to the Future. What happened?
Oops, my bad, I forgot to tell it was broken, Marty.
Now it’s time for a commercial break.
What, you don’t know who that guy is, was? Something like that. Wow, fer rizzle my frizzles? Dude, my high school football coach had a cardboard mask of this guy with a rubber band on it. And yes, the coach taught History. Imagine that in the South, right? Well in class he ducked down and came up wearing it. We all just sat there like nothing happened. Practice wasn’t great that day.
Oh look, it’s Iron Teen, I mean Weird Science guy. That’s right, meet Iron Man in his first movie role in the movie Weird Science. Ugly Guy wasn’t he.
Oh and look, Captain Jack Sparrow in his first role in the first Nightmare on Elm Street movie. It’s a brief part, just sayin’. If you’re squeamish, don’t watch a clip of it. Blood everywhere. Really hurl worthy, I tell you.
I wonder if he lost his iPod during that scene. Oh, this isn’t an iPod? Walkman? Oh yeah, I think mine is still somewhere at my parents house. I tell you they really bit the big one if you tried to listen to it and cut grass at the same time. Wonder if it’s next to my 8 Track of Elvis singing Blue Hawaii?
Ah a kinder gentler moment with the Never Ending Story. Big fluffy dog dragon thingy and hmm I wonder where the rock thingy that road the rock bicycle is these days.
Okay guys, the dog dragon thingy didn’t do anything to you and he wasn’t a ghost. Yep. Ghostbusters. Now who you gonna call? I wonder if it is politically correct to call them ghosts these days or is there another name they prefer. Do you think they have some sort of advocacy group or lobby group in Washington? Do you think they are going to sue Bill Murray?
Dude, the Ghostbusters put Ice Man in the upside down position. That took Real Genius. Yeah, that’s the name of the movie. This was his second movie role after Top Secret! No I’m not excited, there was an exclamation on the end of the title. Anyone remember that movie? I looked it up. I don’t think it was my amnesia making it hard to remember.
There we go, we need some peace and quiet, a master to teach us the ways of the force. Wait, the ways of the whooping cough. No the crane, yes the crane. Do you guys remember who this is and what movie it is? And better still, what show was he in before this that made him famous?
Stand By Me. That’s River Phoenix on our right. Would be one of the big guys today but he was one of the first of a generation to die of drugs. Things started snowballing after that it seemed.
And we had other classic movies and series start in the 80s.
And look at that. Bueller . . . Bueller . . . Bueller.
Yep, Sodapop Curtis. Or you might know him as Rob Lowe. What, you didn’t know that was his name? Yeah, he was a Greaser too. He felt like an Outsider in his younger days. Yep, this was his big screen debut.
Isn’t that just Duckie? Yep, before Two and a Half Men Jon Cryer was after Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink. This may have been his third movie appearance but this is the one that made him and he stole the movie from everyone. Annie Potts was in it as well, yes the woman from Designing Women. Oh hush, I know you know that show.
And one of the greatest movies of the 80s if not the best movie ever representing the various groups of high school in an honest way. The Breakfast Club.
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