Speak Tenderly

I just want to scream! I can’t believe the thing that person just said! How dare they do that!  What nerve! 

Or . . . perhaps try this. Speak tenderly.

I’ll tell those civil rights bashing so and so’s what they can do with their clubs and tear gas. They want to dismantle our camp? I’m committed to non violence, but I am going to shout and scream until someone listens!
Maybe it is possible to speak tenderly.

All those political debates make my blood boil. The candidates are so full of their pursuit of power that they’ll say anything to get a few more votes. They’re demeaning whole populations in order to please bigots and extremists.  I’d really like to give them a piece of my mind!

I wish I had the sense to speak tenderly.

I don’t think that the call to comfort and tender speech in this week’s Bible reading from Isaiah 40:1-11 is a “this is what to do for all time” kind of instruction. I do think that it is good advice to consider in all situations, however.

What would it be like if more and more and more folk decided to speak tenderly?