Tag Archives: appearance

Buckteeth

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Buckteeth: (n) upper teeth that project over the lower lip.

In pursuit of truth and compassion, you find yourself in many a thorny patch.

Even though each one of us may insist that we want to be truthful and tender, our internal prejudices often grab us by the throat and Dictionary Bchoke out all the kindness.

This is especially true when it comes to teeth.

I don’t know what it is about teeth. I could say I never consider anyone’s teeth–but if they have missing ones, or buck teeth, I will notice and attribute a lack of intelligence to them because of it.

I feel bad about it. For some reason, this was transferred into my brain at an early age, and found such a resting place that eviction seems unlikely.

Yet I run across other people who think my teeth are flawed, but choose to be merciful.

My children were especially, notoriously obsessed with their teeth. But it takes a prince’s ransom to create straight teeth in the human head. If you multiply that times three or four kids, you may find yourself needing to go into piracy to procure the desired pearls in their mouths.

Buck teeth are tough.

It’s a simple protrusion, yet it connotes so much negativity that it almost has to be corrected to secure acceptance for the victim.

And victims they will be–because we have not yet reached the point where we can consider the intelligence, the spirit and the passion of other human beings without first contemplating their “dentality.”

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Amen

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Amen: (exclam) 1. uttered at the end of a prayer, meaning “so be it.” 2. used to express agreement or assent

Turning my TV channels in the wee hours of the morning, I stumbled across a whole series of religious programs, proffering their view of the holiness of God and the varying degrees of the depravity of man.

Although they were quite different in appearance and style, their content was similar in one remarkable way: every once in a while, as the speaker was touting his or her revelation, they would stop and say, “Can I get an amen?”

After a while, it lost some of its charm and spontaneity and began to reek of desperation. It was similar to pausing in the middle of a romantic encounter and asking your partner what she thinks of your lip technique. Or going to have a new tire put on your car and having the attendant insist that you come and watch him and grunt your approval during the process.

It just isn’t very attractive in the human experience to be so needy that you feel compelled to demand reinforcement.

I know we’re supposed to tell people we love them, but honestly, after a while, it sniffs more of platitude than it does gratitude.

An “amen” should come forth when the audience spontaneously feels energized by a notion or a prayer that causes them to give voice to their support.

I don’t like to go to a concert and have the group onstage, before they have even sung a note, insist that we all begin clapping. I don’t like being forced to stand up and I don’t want to be “rallied” to a cause which is either not clear to me or has not stimulated much enthusiasm in my soul.

If we do too many charlatan actions in our lives, faking our zeal, we soon will forget what it’s like to be overtaken by joy, overwhelmed by blessing and swept along by the magic of great ideas.

As I watched the shows last night and the camera scanned the audience, they were a strange mixture of bewilderment and submission.

If God needs me to merely perform the function of a pawn which He pushes across a chess board to generate the appearance of movement, then honestly, I’m not particularly interested.

But I am fully prepared to be affected, stimulated and rejuvenated … at any time.