Category Archives: B words

Backlash

Backlash (n) a strong and adverse reaction by a large number of people, especially to a social or political development.

“Racism is back.”Dictionary B

That’s what I heard somebody say in a news report yesterday.

You see, racism never goes away because of two simple problems:

  1. Human beings are marred by the need to be better than someone else.
  2. Since this is true, no one will let you be better than them.

Thus racism.

So racism is a backlash against failing to deal with your own insecurities. If you are able to admit where you are uncertain about your own abilities and start a vigil of effort to improve your situation, you are much too busy to worry about the color of skin, the curve of a nose or the slant of an eye.

But if you feel that the definition of fairness is, “I should be fine the way I am,” then you will look for ways to diminish your competition in order to adequately uplift your mediocrity.

Here’s the truth: the white plantation owners couldn’t get their family, children and friends to bear the heat of the day to pick a cotton crop. Call it laziness or poor genetic engineering.

So they created a whole philosophy around the inferiority of the black man because of the inability to take care of their own business.

Then they punished the black man because he did the work they were unable to achieve and survived the punishment without striking back and killing them.

So what am I saying?

Racism is jealousy hidden behind superiority. “We just can’t get it done.”

It is the backlash we levy against an innocent party.

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Background

Background (n) the circumstances or situation prevailing at a particular time or underlying a particular event.

“What’s your background?”Dictionary B

A very popular question.

I learned many years ago to dodge all inquiries which attempt to squeeze me into a favorable box.

Once people discover the roots of my nationality, the place of my birth, my chosen occupation and even my favorite color, for some reason, these nosy neighbors determine that they know enough about me to converse with me–or even market a product–in my direction.

I believe this is why we’re so juiced up on the idea of cultures and customs. Because once we determine that somebody is from Jamaica, then we are most assuredly confident that they must love reggae music.

So how difficult is it to be a rock and roll advocate and live in Jamaica?

How absolutely frustrating must it be to live in Wisconsin and have never eaten cheese?

Can you actually dwell in Iowa or Nebraska without having a running dialogue on raising corn?

The thing that makes us most uninteresting is the thing that we seem to pursue with great fervor.

“Let me shrink who you are so that who you are will fit into what I need you to be.”

So even as I watch the phenomenon of the gay community gaining credence in our society, television insists that all gay people speak with a lisp, love theater, cry at the drop of a hat and are basically snarky.

So what are we really achieving when we claim to be accepting of people–but we’re really only accepting of people when they arrive in large, definable clumps?

I will not tell you my background.

What I will share is my present footing and what I dream to be my foreground.

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Back Burner

Back burner: (v) to postpone consideration of or action on.Dictionary B

I think I will share with you a little secret–maybe not so much a secret as a piece of true magic.

It is the blessing of inviting things into your life instead of merely accepting them.

If you don’t learn to do this well, you will find yourself shoving great intentions and inspiration to the back burner of your stove and being forced to quickly make macaroni and cheese on the front burners every single day.

I think it may be the key to joy–being able to invite situations into your space instead of having them linger at the borders of your feelings, demanding entrance.

I meet people every day who have a novel stuck in their back closet.

Many of them have a horn they used to play, that they always meant to get back to.

And countless numbers envision a trip which has been put on hold for years because of budgetary concerns.

This is why we came up with the infamous “bucket list,” which we supposedly pursue after we’ve been given a terminal diagnosis and we have so few months left that we finally get down to the business of living.

I am repulsed by the idea of a bucket list.

I have set my course to invite possibilities into my soul instead of being kidnapped and held for ransom by responsibilities.

But how do you do it?

  1. Discern the signs of your times.

Long before foolishness arrives, it threatens by showing a little bit of its potential stupidity. Identify what has proven to be inefficient and get away from it as soon as possible, even if others insist it “only needs a few more tries.”

  1. Be picky about invitations.

Don’t allow yourself to be pressured into joining the gang.

  • Bad ideas generate a mob.
  • Good ideas stimulate a membership.

So if you’re looking for evidence of what is worth pursuing, stay away from the mobs and look to the wisdom of those individuals who are more selective in their participation.

  1. Choose based upon your dreams.

If something is completely out of the realm of what you envision to be the fuel for your life, don’t pump it into your gas tank. Even if it has promise, finance or gives you appreciation from others, if it is contrary to your vision, it will cause you to perish.

I never back burner that which stimulates my heart … but I am more than willing to take contrary views and unnecessary tribulation completely off my stove.

 

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Backbone

Backbone: (n) the series of vertebrae extending from the skull to the pelvis; the spine.Dictionary B

It is what makes us Homo Erectus, which is really not a dirty term.

It means that we’re able to stand on two feet instead of crawl on four.

The spine itself is pretty important. People find out exactly how valuable when they accidentally break it.

But the term “backbone” is normally used to refer to some gumption that might suddenly come into the average person’s decision to be counted as something other than a sheep.

Matter of fact, I can tell you of a certainty, if you’ve never stood up for something eternal in a roomful of detractors, you’ve probably missed out on a particular portion of human growth that takes you from stooped over to standing tall.

Now, here’s the issue: what causes are worthy of such lonely last stands?

Because truthfully, there are many things that claim to be essential and are later declared either silly or maybe even dangerous.

I’ve always had a simple answer to that question: Anything that stifles joy is evil.

Now, I’m not talking about the maniac who joyfully murders people. I mean the basic units of human joy, which are:

  1. I am happy to be alive.
  2. I am happy you’re alive.
  3. I am happy we share this life together.
  4. I am hoping this happiness will continue.

Every time I’ve run across anyone who has tried to eliminate this glorious possibility, I’ve made a stand.

Many years ago, I wrote a play which included dancing, and I took it to some churches, where great objections were offered due to the fact that these evangelicals deemed choreography to be immoral.

I made a stand against them. I was one fellow in a room of 30 arguers. But I had no doubt.

Dancing brings joy. And “the joy of the Lord is my strength.” And since it appears in the very Bible that most of them thought they were defending, I thought I was on pretty safe turf.

Years passed, and dancing is now included in worship services of every denomination.

What is the new attitude which is stifling joy?

Find it. Get some backbone.

And speak for what will last … instead of being intimidated by what is popular.

 

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Backbiting

Backbiting: (n) malicious talk about someone who is not present.Dictionary B

“Gnashing of teeth.”

It is one of those phrases from the Good Book, referring to people who get so angry that they would just like to bite somebody.

So to make sure that we don’t come across like wild wolves, we have come up with more civilized ways to gnash on people, without extracting blood.

But here’s the fact: nobody is willing to admit that they gossip.

So how can you tell if you have fallen into the nasty tendency to become an emotional vampire?

  1. If you’re discussing with another person and the person you’re discussing walks into the room and you tell your friend to “hush up” so you can get back to it later.
  2. If you have to preface what you say with, “I don’t mean this in a bad way…”
  3. If you finish 20 minutes of railing against someone and then decide to close it with prayer.
  4. If you make sure that you attack weaker people so that they have no power to strike back against you.
  5. If you use Biblical or psychological terminology to reinforce your theory of someone else’s perversion.
  6. If you make any kind of pact of silence in order to ensure that your victim is not aware of your true feelings.
  7. If you feel a little greasy and stinky when somebody preaches against gossip.

Gossip is the true sign of insecurity:

It’s projecting onto others our failures.

It is the absence of letting our true yes be yes and our no to resound as a no.

 

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Bacillus

Bacillus: (n) a disease-causing, rod-shaped bacterium.Dictionary B

Bacillus is certainly one of those words that you don’t want to hear very often in your life. Others would be bankrupt, sexually transmitted disease, and agony.

But I have heard “bacillus” once–and as they say, if you do it well, once is enough.

I was admitted into a hospital because I allowed an infection in my foot to get out of hand, thinking I could control it through home remedies and the power of presumption.

They took a specimen of my infection and discovered that I had two roaring types of bacteria annoying my well-being.

After spending two or three days in the hospital, they took another sample and discovered that I now had three–having added a new bacillus. So coming to the hospital afforded me the opportunity to gain an additional partner to the crime being perpetrated in my toes.

I questioned this, and the doctor explained that even though they try to keep all medical facilities clean and free of disease, it is, after all, a hospital, which is inhabited by unclean people with disease.

So that is my memory of bacillus.

It is something I acquired during my hospital stay… other than a bloated bill.

 

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Bachelor

Bachelor: (n) a man who is not and has never been married.

I was never a bachelor unless you want to count my high school years.Dictionary B

I got married two months short of my nineteenth birthday, placing me in seclusion from the female of the species, at least romantically. So I don’t feel qualified to speak on the ins and outs of this particular station of life.

But I do know that even though I was a married man, moments of bachelorhood occasionally possessed me, seemingly against my will.

I was never involved in pornography, but I did visit a friend’s house, who had a stack of Playboy magazines next to the downstairs toilet. I resisted them for a brief season, only to find myself perusing briefly.

I have also flirted. Flirt is one of those words that has no obvious definition:

  • Some people say they flirt and it ends up being a confession of having a sexual rendezvous.
  • Some people say they flirt because they offered half of their Twix bar to a stranger.

So I’m sure you’re not satisfied with me saying that “I have flirted.” Let me just say that I have met women who have graciously expressed some interest in me, other than creatively, and I have taken a moment to bask in the glory of that radiance.

I have also lusted after women in my heart. I have rather enjoyed that. I have even gone off to a private place to have deeper expression of that heart-lusting.

I don’t know what is sinful and what is permissible. I think it’s good that we don’t know. Because if we did know, we would still push the barriers further toward sin and farther away from righteousness.

Keeping us confused about our missteps is a good way to make sure that we learn how to walk a straight line.

 

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Babysit

Babysit: (v) to look after a child or children while the parents are out.Dictionary B

Babysitting would be tolerable, perhaps even pleasurable, if you were actually asked to care for a baby. Taking care of an infant might give you loads of time between diaper changing and bottle giving.

But most people don’t ask you to babysit their infant. No, they want you to take care of children between the ages of two and fourteen, who they know could never be left alone because they’re so out of control.

So as a babysitter, you walk in understanding that you’re at the mercy of the parenting skills of people who are so anxious to get out of the door and away from their sprouts that they barely have time to grant you a courteous greeting.

And of course, the little ones save up their worst antics and lies for the babysitter. Here are some popular ones:

  1. “No, it’s true. Mom always lets us have 4 cookies right before bed.”
  2. “We watch R-rated movies with our parents all the time.”
  3. “My mom and dad don’t discipline me. You’re being mean.”
  4. “I’m allowed to wrestle with my little brother unless he bleeds or screams.”

Well, you get the idea.

Kids are humans, and therefore much too intelligent to merely be “tended,” but instead, require corralling and sometimes, restraint. So babysitting is an arduous, fearful, cautious and often thankless job.

Because to get the kids and the mom and dad to like you means that you must be lenient enough that the children don’t have a vendetta against you … and the parents do not feel that the destruction in the house warrants you being fired. 

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Babylonian

Babylonian: (adj) of or relating to Babylon or Babylonia.

Babylon scared the foreskin off the Jews.Dictionary B

So in the Jewish culture, Babylon became the symbol for everything wicked, perverse and untoward.

They feared Babylon.

This created not only great aggravation, but also promoted extreme bigotry and an overly zealous sense of nationalism.

Here is a quick thought: it is ridiculous to attach demon or angel to humans.

That’s right–we are people.

We are not sinister enough to be belched from hell, nor are we spiritual enough to sprout a set of gossamer wings.

Yet we still persist in this kind of personification today.

So people who believe in God look on the atheist as being inherently evil. They are Babylon.

And those who choose to live free from a god figure contend the faithful are Neanderthal-Holy-Book-thumpers.

We feel justified in doing this. Matter of fact, to protect our philosophy, we feel it is essential to turn the opposition into some sort of backwards Babylonia.

But, as time has proven, people, being people, end up with people conclusions.

  • So stupidity always lends itself to stupid results.
  • Unselfishness opens the door to unselfish manifestations.
  • And robbing people of freedom always ends up with a rebellion to regain independence.

Babylonia was a country. It fancied itself to be an empire. But its rule was short, to match its vision. And those who considered it to be insurmountable–the quintessential evil–were proven to be overwrought.

 

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Baby Boom

Baby boom: (n) a temporary marked increase in the birth rate, especially the one following World War II.

I am a baby boomer.Dictionary B

As with many other titles that have been thrust upon me, I have no idea in hell what that means.

I will say this–I often smile when people say the young people today are growing up in “much more perilous, dangerous and tempting times.” Honestly, there was no place crazier than the United States of America circa 1959 through 1972.

We were killing off leaders like we were part of a drug cartel from Columbia, and drugs were surfacing everywhere, which people experimented with in order to do their part in assisting the FDA.

We were also periodically threatened with atomic bomb annihilation, just to make sure we didn’t get too comfortable in our new hush puppies.

The music was turbulent. If you were a young man you were constantly threatened with being drafted and sent over to bleed in a rice paddy, and the sexual revolution, which was on the drawing boards, required a rotation of guinea pigs.

We were angry, frustrated, disconsolate, overjoyed and unrepresented.

I spent my teen years in that period, and even though I was a church-going boy and not a member of the SDS, when I look back on it, my life was surrounded by dying principles which were tumbling down around me like the walls of Jericho.

I remember one day, my father was in the middle of a speech about personal responsibility and how I needed to take more of it, when suddenly he stopped speaking, stared off in the distance and never continued. I don’t know what crossed his mind–but I think that even though he was an old guy, he realized that everything he was sharing was being disemboweled in his lifetime, and he did not yet understand what the New Order would require.

The travesty of the baby boomers is that they remained babies.

  • So we never got the boom.
  • We never got the sense of accomplishment.
  • We all just eventually learned to sign on the dotted line, and started attending financial conferences on better mortgage rates.

But I am an oddball.

I have maintained a spark of revival, revolution and rejuvenation.

It causes me to be adequately dissatisfied … while on my way to find some moments of satisfaction.

 

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