Thinking Out Loud, Volume CCCXXVI

I don't use profanity. Well, not now at least. In the third grade, it was a different story....for a while. One of my buddies at school "cussed" every other breath, and I took it as an opportunity to greatly expand my vocabulary by learning a few choice words from him. I was a quick learner and everything was going great until the day I came home from school and proudly used some of my newly acquired colorful language in front of my mother. Oh! My! Goodness! She explained to me in ways that I'll never forget that I was not to ever use that type of vulgarity again. Her method worked! Well, it worked until that time a few years ago when, as an adult, a couple bad words slipped out before I knew what was happening. Here's how it happened. I had spent a couple of weeks working around some potty mouth guys, and then, at a most inopportune time, their influence had an effect on me in front of a guy that I greatly respected, and it came out before I knew it. If anyone around was surprised that I talked like that, their surprise was not nearly as great as mine. And that brings me to my point of the day. Sometimes I think we're much more easily influenced than we think we are. More than likely all of us feel that we're tough enough and strong willed enough to not let the actions of those around us have an influence on us. Really? Well, try this experiment. If you're from the South, try moving to Minnesota for a couple years and then move back south again. Even though the people you talk to in Minnesota will always notice your southern accent, when you get back to the South, all the southerners will think you now talk like a Yankee. There's one place in the Bible where Paul instructs us "when in Rome, do as the Romans." I believe if we stay in Rome long enough, we'll do that anyway. That's why it's so important to be particular about the company we keep on a regular basis. I also believe that all of us have our strong points and we all have our weak points. Therefore, if I have a history of being weak in certain areas, I should avoid other people who share the same weaknesses. For example, if I'm a reformed alcoholic, I should not keep regular company with people who drink. If I'm a person with a history of cheating on my spouse, even though I feel that I've had a transformation of heart, I should still avoid allowing myself to get into situations where I may be tempted to fall back down into that same old pit. Some days we're just not as strong as we are on other days, and we never know what days they will be. I'm reminded of the movie "Fireproof" when the main character who was trying to overcome an addiction to pornography finally took his computer out into the back yard and chopped it up with an axe. I guess my main point is we should never feel that we're at a point in our lives where we're beyond being influenced by our peers. None of us are as insulated as we think we are. If we stay in Rome long enough, we'll become Romans. Preston