Tag Archives: fallacious

Accursed

by J. R. Practix

dictionary with letter A

Accursed: (adj.) 1. under a curse 2. used to express strong dislike or anger towards

I guess that’s why they call it cursing–when you decide that people have made you so angry that you must quickly pronounce judgment on them by only using four-letter words.

I suppose I would have to ask myself if there really IS anything that’s “accursed.”  Is there really some idea or practice in the human family which is not only unmannerly, but worthy of total condemnation?

To be honest, I am tired to listening to curses being placed on human beings for the sins of the flesh. Oh, I know there are things that are gross, mean, deadly and despicable. But sins of the flesh tend to plague the human carcass. Are we better if we avoid them? Sure. Can we completely escape the hold they have on our beings? Not so sure.

So every time we isolate some human being and freeze him or her in their moment of stupidity, trying to draw a conclusion about their entire personage based on a single act or even a series of repetitive functions, we really are placing a curse, which might have a rubber band effect, and fly back in our face the next time WE are equally as foolish.

So I’m not so sure I want to curse people because they have selected personal choices that I do not necessarily adhere to in my own life. No, I think if a curse comes upon any human spirit, it is due to the ridiculous notion that we gain superiority simply because we are something that someone else isn’t, were raised in a place where they weren’t, or retain a color that we deem preferable.

I guess you would call those sins of the heart–those fallacious notions that crop into our minds, which we DO have control over, but rather than chasing them out the back door, we entertain them in the parlor of our brain.

The only “cursed” thing about human beings is when any one of us tries to promote or express superiority. Not only is it absolutely hilarious because we will quickly disprove our premise of being superior, but also, the nastiness of making someone else appear to be small just to increase our own circumference of influence, is probably the definition of evil.

For after all, in order to murder someone you have to convince yourself that they must go and you must stay.

There’s the entire personification of the problem.

So what do I curse?

  • Self-righteousness.
  • Racism.
  • Bigotry.
  • Over-zealous nationalism.
  • Prejudice.
  • Arrogance.
  • Non-repentant values.
  • Anything that makes us believe that somehow or another, we arrived here in the perfect package and everyone else is damaged goods.

Hopefully I will never curse you because you do something different with your body parts than I do.

But I will confront you every time you think that you’re better than anyone else.

Able

by J. R. Practix

dictionary with letter A

Able: adj. 1.having the power, skill, means or opportunity to do something: He was able to read Greek at the age of eight 2. having considerable skill, proficiency: The dancers were technically very able.

Able-bodied.

You know what’s funny about that phrase? It’s always followed by the word man.

“Able-bodied man.”

Apparently, women’s bodies are not able.

Although I would vigorously object to that conclusion, I would hesitate to use the word “able” by itself. Because certainly our politicians in Washington are able. Many of them are able-bodied, which they are delighted to demonstrate as they quickly climb stairs to overcome the notion of pending senility.

But what I want to know–what I’m curious about–and what haunts my consciousness, is: “Are they ready?”

Because to have “able” without “ready” is the concept that because somebody has the look of success, they actually are going to be ready to deliver the goods. So not only is “able-bodied man” a bigoted phrase, but the whole presentation that having physical prowess has anything whatsoever to do with coming up with a good idea on the spot, to overcome stupidity, is equally fallacious.

So even though I’m glad that “able” is in the dictionary, we should be careful in our assessment of our fellow-human-beings, to make sure that with their ability–with their able-bodiedness–is also some confirmation that they are ready.

Otherwise, we might end up with a stalemate, where able people who are not ready actually are making decisions for our lives while lifting weights instead of lifting our burdens.