Why I avoid using curse words

When I grew up, I tried dang hard not to use curse words. They were vulgar things, and I wasn’t a vulgar person. Exactly why did I do so? I thought that it was a matter of discipline for my faith. If I could provide an example of a person who didn’t need to curse, I believed that I could convince people not to curse. I guess it’s because I believe in my favorite proverb, “A man of knowledge uses words with restraint; a man of understanding is even-tempered” (Proverbs 17:27). But then one day I had an enlightening conversation with my roommate, Howard.

You see, I had asked him not to use curse words in front of me. He respected that, but he asked me why? I told him it was offensive to me, for it was a matter of discipline. He asked me if a kid grew up with cursing, then would it not be natural for him to use curse words in everyday conversation (I’m paraphrasing him in my words)? Hmmm, I had to admit that he was right.

Our environment does indeed affect us everyday. If we watch movies and television full of programs that use dirty language, then we will more likely to use those words. However, we still choose whether or not to use those words. I know that I can’t stop the world from using curse words, but that doesn’t stop me from keeping my discipline. Call it a practice of faith.

I can listen to Vietnamese, but I can't speak it

At home, my parents mostly speak their native tongue to me, but I respond in English. My good friend Riest's favorite comment on this was that we were planning to take over the world and he would never know it. Either that, or we plotted to poison him. Unfortunately, I never really developed my Vietnamese abilities because I only had American friends growing up. There are relatively few Vietnamese families in Ft. Smith.

However, I can understand about 90 percent of normal, everyday Vietnamese conversation. I'm a little lost on any kind of idioms, jokes, or references. So, how did I reinforce my understanding of Vietnamese? I watched many Chinese kung fu movies dubbed in Vietnamese when I was a kid. They're classics, like Journey to the West. My favorite is Jin Yong's trilogy of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, The Return of the Condor Heroes, and The Heavenly Sword and the Dragon Sabre. Hmmm, sounds like a blog for the future.

I can read a little, but it's painfully slow. As for my writing abilities, they're terrible. I remember my mom trying to teach me some when I was a kid, but she was too busy to make sure I learned it all.

Going to the conference awakened something inside of me. It's like...I know I need to hold onto my culture. And the foundation of any culture is its language. So I need to work hard to improve my Vietnamese. Sigh, I first need to overcome my laziness.