Ending Fights Before They Begin

My agriculture teacher in high school had some very strict rules of conduct in his class. One of those rules was that you could never use the word "lie." We called it the evil word. Using it meant ten licks from the teachers paddle. He said that using the word "lie" or "liar" caused too many fights. Anyone in his class will never forget that. He taught how to stop fights before they begin. On this Sunday .... I am going to step up to the pulpit and give you a new "evil word" and it is "all."

How prejudice and ager provoking is the word "all" when making a generalization? There are not too many good statements that start with the word "all" followed by a noun that groups people together. As a matter of fact .... just about every statement that starts in such a way is showing prejudice and being used by a hater. You see it and hear it everywhere from the TV news to your facebook page. Something like "all Republicans" "all Democrats" or any clumping of people together.

I think we should do away with each and every one of those statements (or just the word "all") and maybe it would help us work out or our prejudices. Maybe this could stop fights from beginning. Deep down I feel most people just want to live in peace with each other. Just a thought for this Sunday.