Delicate
Today the word delicate crossed my mind. I wondered if it was a word that was mentioned in the Bible. When I looked it up, I found that the word delicate is mentioned several times in Jeremiah, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and in the book of Micah. The meanings there were interpreted as dainty or luxurious. Often the meaning of the word delicate was paired with the idea of something being tender. Parallel meanings that I thought of immediately were dainty or easily damaged. Another thought that scurried through my brain at almost the same time was the fabric settings on my washing machine and my clothes dryer.
Delicate is not a word that’s used very much anymore. At one time adults, especially parents used the idea of delicate when they were choosing language being spoken while they were in the presence of children. The morals of that time caused them to be cautious and eliminate these harsh or vulgar words when children were in the room. Adults didn’t feel the language was appropriaate for the child’s delicate or tender ears to hear. The child’s brain wasn’t mature enough to be exposed to undrestand the meanings of the fowl utterings of a “drunken sailor.”
Slowly the language of the gutter infiltrated society. Twenty years ago the street language being used today would not have been uttered nor tolerated, especially if it was said in front of a “lady.” It was uncouth and uncaceptable. Today the taboo of curse words has expanded so that women are just as guilty of weilding those worda and breaching that wall of protection. The language of women now will often rival the roughness of their male counterparts.
This corrupt verbiage has infiltrated our homes. Parents will laugh when their children pick up the disrespectful attitudes and the gutter talk. Too often these words are spoken by the parents. They no longer seem to care about the “delicate ears” of their children. Television, movies, and modern day music seems to have no filter and children are exposed to these indelicate words from all sides.
The words and ideas from which we once sheltered children are now being foisted on them at a much younger age. Adults are forcing ideas of “gender” and sex on these young people who have no wisdom, experience, or understanding of what they are being asked.
Maybe instead of allowing our children to be confused by this worldly pressure, we should return to treating our children as delicate and precious things and not allow the evils of today to crush, ruin, and damage them.