Tone…

So much rhetoric these days is offensive, loud, and uncivil. I’m not so naive to think that discourse in the US has always been civil – it has not. Study history, if you dare, and you will see that political cartoons, speeches, and the words of the common people have often been vile and offensive. Public attack and criticism have always been a part of public discourse but today the voices around the world have lowered reason and civil speech to new depths. How sad – how unfortunate – how dangerous.

Tone…

In Colossians 4:6 it says, “Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.” Yesterday I wrote about attractiveness and how we might draw others to the One we follow. How do our words draw people to a higher level of discourse and civility? We need to hear the voices of those who are ignored and pushed down more than those who have the money to pay to have their words heard. But it is in civility and tone that voices become most eloquent. The tone of our conversation does not leave out the “salt” of a well chosen word. Gracefulness in speech is more likely to ring true over time more than “shock jocks” who become like a multi-car pile up – a collision of offensiveness that you stare at but want to forget.

Tone…

Ed Koch, the flamboyant New York City Mayor, wrote, “Tone can be as important as text.” In other words, how we say something is as important as what we say. How will we make our beliefs known? How will our speech be seasoned with grace and salt today? Consider changing the tone with people around you and see what happens. You can’t always change the world but you can change you and quite often the world near you and as a result the world begins to change.