Wednesday; June 10

I am about to share a few things with you that you just might not know.  First of all, there is a Presidential Pet Museum website.  Second, President Andrew Jackson had a pet parrot named Poll.  Finally, the parrot had to be removed from Jackson’s funeral because it was swearing!  According to the pet website, during Jackson’s funeral in June of 1845, the parrot was excited by the multitude that gathered for the funeral and let loose perfect gusts of “cuss words”.  It appears the attendees were “horrified and awed at the bird’s lack of reverence”.  William Menefee Norment, who presided over the funeral noted, “Before the sermon and while the crowd was gathering, a wicked parrot that was a household pet got excited and commenced swearing so loud and long as to disturb the people and had to be carried from the house.”.  I don’t know where the parrot picked up his vocabulary, but from what I have read about President Jackson, I have a pretty good guess.
 I have to admit that this story is kind of humorous, but how many others of us have stories that are not so funny – those times when our children parrot what they have heard us say.   Some people are fortunate that the offending language is confined to private settings, but many others have had to endure the public humiliation of having their children repeat the words in public.  While the natural response is typically, “I don’t know where he learned those words”, most times those who hear the mimic know all too well the source of the naughty words.
I trust we all use discretion when we choose our words, but more than anywhere, I hope we monitor our speech around children.  We often hear people advocate that they hope our generation is the one that ends the violence – maybe we could add another component, let this generation be the one that ends the vulgarity.
         Think About It!

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