Tag Archives: overbearing

Brash

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Brash: (adj) self-assertive in a rude, noisy, or overbearing way

Brash is the uptown insult we hurl at an adversary when he or she says something we don’t like–whether it’s rude or not.

So it’s difficult to know what truly is brash and what is simply rejected by the hearer.Dictionary B

The politician may candidly point out that the American public need to take more responsibility for their own lives, and therefore be deemed brash.

The director of a movie may instruct his actor to be more authentic and stay in character, and certainly be proclaimed as brash during the break by the affronted thespian.

And certainly a preacher who points out the error of sinful ways would be considered a bumpkin–and brash.

But actually, brash is when something that is very obvious and already recognized as a problem is brought up once again simply for the sake of poking the bruise.

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Battered

Battered: (adj) injured by repeated blows or punishment.Dictionary B

Not all blemishes are pimples–but all blemishes may end up being called pimples and must suffer the accusation.

It is the nature of the human race to try to simplify things down to smaller categories. It is actually one of our more endearing qualities, because when we complicate matters, we become a living comedy of fleshy error.

Such it is with the word “battered,”

I have always had great respect for human beings, but I have occasionally looked into the mirror of humanity and seen my blemishes next to those who have pimples.

In other words–without further twisting this little parable–I have watched and even counseled people who have battered other souls, and realized that some of the symptoms of their actions live inside of me, and have even sprouted from my tongue.

I can try to rationalize it; I can insist that I am so adorable, generally speaking, that I am exempt.

I can shout from the housetops that I respect women, but as long as there is one nasty chauvinist remark lingering in my brain, I must be aware that I have too much in common with the batterer.

I do not think we succeed by comparing ourselves favorably to others.

I think our true power is when we find the first seedlings of a crop of sin inside ourselves.

  • I have been rude.
  • I have been overbearing.
  • I have interrupted.
  • I have been sarcastic.
  • I have been dismissive.
  • And even though I have not raised my hand and struck another traveler in anger, I have used my wit and words to bruise.

Eliminating all domestic violence will not protect women until the men who would never be violent discover the ways that they still batter.

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ASAP

Asap: (adj) promply, as soon as possibledictionary with letter A

In a world of painful indecision, deadlines seem abusive.

Matter of fact, we begin to adjust our entire mental outlook on life by the amount of encouragement we receive from others instead of the extent of success we have in our endeavors.

It is the equivalent of swallowing four aspirin for sore muscles instead of taking the time to massage the ache away.

It is the euphoria of excuses instead of the stringency of effort.

Every time somebody tells me they need something done “asap,” the first thing I have to do is overcome my American instinct to respond, “Drop dead.”

Maybe their pushiness is distasteful to me, but I must understand that I live in a world where things do have to get done quickly. The reason they call it “the luxury of time” is because none of us can afford to waste it.

So how can I get balance? Yes, where is the common ground, where I am adequately edifying the people around me while simultaneously exhorting them to excellence? For truly, a world without edification is a grouchy one indeed, and a planet without exhortation is lazy and bitchy.

My answer to this is fairly simple: I am convinced that when somebody wants me to achieve a task, rather than hearing the intonation of their voice, I should consider the nature and importance of the request.

If I am asked to go get a glass of water “asap,” unless it is because someone’s face is on fire, I think I will allow myself a more leisurely approach.

But when it comes to things like civil rights, human feelings, personal need and general welfare, I will step it up for the cause–but not due to the barker’s orders.

We need to learn that without speed, often the window of opportunity closes … before the blessing can slide through the sill.

 

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Animal

dictionary with letter A

Animal: (n) 1. a living organism that feeds on organic matter, typically having specialized organs and nervous systems 2. any such living organism other than human beings

Sometimes I feel like a cop, standing in the middle of a thoroughfare, attempting to direct traffic, with two huge trucks bearing down on me from different directions, seemingly unwilling to yield.

It’s how I feel about the overbearing nature of the secular community playing “chicken” with the zealots of the religious contingency.

One group screams that human beings are “just animals,” knowing it will aggravate their adversary, as the other gathering of souls touts the eternal nature of our being and the need for God.

I have found in my life that when you maintain a philosophy and speak it aloud more or less just to annoy others who disagree with you, you not only lack the power of your own conviction, but you are infiltrating the world around you with unnecessary conflict.

I decided a long time ago that human beings are monkey-angels. There is no denying our similarity to the family of animals but there is little doubt that we have some DNA in common with the angels of God.

I don’t know why we can’t come to this conclusion:

  • I think it would be nice to have a member of the animal kingdom who has graduated to a spiritual sensibility for respecting the planet and caring for the weaker members of the jungle.
  • Simultaneously, I think there is a certain adorable quality to us motoring a spirit but being a trifle inept in steering it.

As John Merrick, the Elephant Man put it so well, “I am not an animal.”

Perhaps better phrased, “I am not just an animal.”

There is a living, breathing soul within me that aspires to the Divine … while wallowing in the mud.

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Ailey, Alvin

Words from Dic(tionary)

dictionary with letter A

Ailey, Alvin: (1931-89) U.S. dancer and  choreographer. He founded the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater in 1958 and helped to establish modern dance as an American art form, incorporating ballet, jazz and Afro-Caribbean idioms in his choreography.

Being a writer carries with it a certain amount of arrogance. There is the contention that one has something worthy to be said, and therefore read, and also the annoying predilection to associate everything you hear and see into your own spectrum of thinking.

Yes, it’s truly overbearing.

And when I came across this fine gentleman who was so progressive in the art of dance, because I lacked a lot of personal experience with his work, and fearing that merely taking a journey through Wikipedia to impress you with minor details would be presumptuous, if not comical, I decided to sit down and ask myself what I thought of dance. Realizing that this may be completely irrelevant to you, it is my connection with this journeyman’s craft.

As a lad I didn’t dance at all because my church believed that it was the devil’s two-step. One of the deacons in my congregation insisted that it led to lust. When I explained that at fifteen years of age, merely saying a girl’s name aloud could produce great fantasies and tremblings, he didn’t think I was funny.

So it was after I left home and began working in the music field, and decided to compose a Broadway show that, I began to think about choreography, movement and dance. Matter of fact, for my first production I hired a bunch of freelance musicians and singers to perform–all with an amateur status. Failing to realize that just because someone can sing a tune does not mean their feet will coordinate with each other, on our opening night, one critic deemed our staging and dancing to be “collisionography.”

Later on, I tried choreographing myself. Even though I am built more like a water buffalo than a graceful deer, I pranced around stage, learning my steps, acting as fluid as I possibly could, trying to discover my “center,” which ended up being very large because of my midriff.

But I enjoyed every minute of it.

I was thrilled with the audacity of daring to erupt in front of other people, while projecting emotion and ideas through the gyrations.

So when I look at the work of a man like Alvin Ailey, I realize that even though some folks think such shenanigans are evil, despicable or lascivious, life without movement–often purposeful–is bland and motionless.

Matter of fact, there are times when I have jobs to do and I choreograph every single endeavor to produce desirable results.

We come into this world, squeezing through a tiny opening, landing on our butts, learning to walk, so that hopefully … someday we can dance.