Say what?

I have grown up in a Christian household all of my life. I went to a private Christian school from fourth grade until graduation from high school, and cussing was always looked down upon. If a student was caught saying a certain word or announcing language that was inappropriate, we would have been reprimanded and given a consequence. When I arrived here at Young Harris, it was a whole different ball game. A person’s ears can catch the sound of four letter words being spouted out all around campus all of the time. In someone’s dorm room, in a classroom, and just walking across campus. I was never extremely sheltered as a teenager because my mom wanted me to be aware of things going on and didn’t want me to have a rude awakening when I headed off on my own to college, so none of these words were new to me….I just hardly ever heard them spoken. Taboo words do not offend or bother me usually, although some words do set off a trigger. I have a hard time listening to people cuss using Jesus Christ’s name or putting God in front of words. Growing up in the Bible belt and a Christian this has had an impact of the way I view certain aspects of the English language. I still hold true to my morals and beliefs in college because I have made them my own, but I am still not innocent of using profanity every once in a while. I screamed out “shit” earlier this week when I ran over a deer in my 4runner on my way to dinner in Ellijay followed by “what the hell was that?” when all four of my car’s wheels made it back onto the ground. Slip ups happen… shit happens…and A.R. Ammons does a great job of demonstrating this concept in his poem. Ammons carried out his poem into a creative and organized passage keeping the reader’s attention. He made the point clear that shit happens to everyone and it’s something that can’t be avoidable. He brings about images of panda shit and scorpion shit that I would never have thought of on a regular basis. The reader is aware after observing the different styles of shit that it is a part of life and how we were all created. One thing is not better than the other because of some defecation, everything shits and it all smells. Some very conservative people may find the shit poem offensive and uncalled for, yet others, like myself, may find it more artful in the way of carrying out an organized and deeper meaning. Our generation also has a lot do with it. My grandmother, and even my mother, would find a poem saying shit over and over again offensive and uncalled for, but it is a normal word our vocabulary today. It all depends on the audience and their beliefs. No matter what you believe, just remember...shit happens and you can't avoid it!