Jan 02 2009
What Comes Out of a Mouth More Important Than What Goes In
What Comes Out of a Mouth More Important Than What Goes In
Besides being quite a “mouthful” in itself, the above caption captures the essence of an “old saying” that my Grandfather used to use. My Father credited his Father with the expression. I shortened it a little in order to put it here as a title.
As I recall, what my Grandfather used to say was that “people ought to be more concerned about what comes out of a man’s mouth than what he puts in it.” And would you like to guess the CONTEXT?
Not eating MEAT on FRIDAY! Yes, my Grandpa was raised as a Roman Catholic; he was also a hardworking, dry land farmer. He said he needed meat more than he needed to abstain just to satisfy church rules. Church rules, to him, were man-made, and had little to do with a man’s salvation.
He was more concerned about the words that came out of a man’s mouth than whether or not a man ate meat on Friday. He thought others ought to think about that. This does seem to capture the essence of tolerance and good sense. What a may says can be hateful, spiteful, distasteful or untruthful. A man (or woman) can do a lot more damage by words than by eating.
