MOVING BEYOND PROFUNDITY

[prisonchaplain]

We love to look, feel and sound profound. After all, do we not want to make a difference? Sometimes we do harm when we invoke a profound one-liner. I remember a younger chaplain sharing how fulfilling it was to see his inmates maturing in their faith. The elder mentor quickly and adamantly responded: They are not 'yours!' They belong to God. Of course the new chaplain blushed with shame, and sheepishly said, "Yes, of course."

What a shameful way to treat that eager, young cleric! His/her passion to work hard, take ownership, and celebrate the growth of his parishioners should be encouraged, not distorted into something base. If we could examine the chaplain's heart, mind and efforts we would likely find diligence, deference, compassion, and true service to the incarcerated. I doubt we would find bragging, authoritarian tendencies, or even confused boundaries.

So, why the quip about the inmates not being his/hers? The mentor got to sound seasoned and profound. S/he got to expound on each person's autonomy, and on God's ultimate sovereignty. The elder got to sound smart by making the junior feel stupid.

Perhaps the senior chaplain meant well, and really thought there was a point to be made. Nevertheless, I resist the easy, profound one-liner. Better to listen a little more, assume the better in those we counsel, and to wait for the opportune time when God truly directs us to offer a few words of encouragement and life.

[zil]

Nice post, PC.  You make a good point about examining our motivations (and timing) before speaking.

Meanwhile, how many posts do I have to wait before I can safely have fun with the word "profound" without sounding like the senior chaplain?  Cuz I really wanna have fun with the word "profound".

[zil]

Has it been long enough yet?  Cuz now I'm thinking I need to have some fun with "PROFUNDITY".

[Vort]

1 hour ago, zil said:

Has it been long enough yet?  Cuz now I'm thinking I need to have some fun with "PROFUNDITY".

You mean "PRODITY", because you take the "FUN" right out of it.

[zil]

2 minutes ago, Vort said:

You mean "PRODITY", because you take the "FUN" right out of it.

Does this mean it's OK to have fun with these words now?  (Or is it still too soon?)

[Vort]

1 minute ago, zil said:

Does this mean it's OK to have fun with these words now?  (Or is it still too soon?)

Sorry, my bad. We can save the har-de-hars until PC gets some actual discussion on this meaningful and very deep thread. (See what I did there?)

[zil]

1 minute ago, Vort said:

Sorry, my bad. We can save the har-de-hars until PC gets some actual discussion on this meaningful and very deep thread. (See what I did there?)

Meanwhile, my original fun is saved in a cookie (I assume) on my workstation at work, so that will have to wait.  I need to spend some time recovering from work, then I'll see about some fun with "profundity".

[prisonchaplain]

8 hours ago, zil said:

Nice post, PC.  You make a good point about examining our motivations (and timing) before speaking.

Meanwhile, how many posts do I have to wait before I can safely have fun with the word "profound" without sounding like the senior chaplain?  Cuz I really wanna have fun with the word "profound".

You're usually safe if you wait until page 2 starts. 

[prisonchaplain]

@zil  You might as well fire at will with the fun stuff... the crickets on this string have done took over. 

[zil]

14 minutes ago, prisonchaplain said:

@zil  You might as well fire at will with the fun stuff... the crickets on this string have done took over. 

Well, apparently the cookie with my reply didn't survive the computer being powered off.   All my cleverness lost power.    Let's see if I can recall....  (Snark isn't nearly so fun when it isn't spontaneous.)

But personally, I'm prolost.  Especially when I'm lost to the world - the last thing I want then is to be found.  But most people seem to be profound.  After all, it's easy to be profound - someone else is doing all the work.  Of course, most people seem to only be self-profound - 'cause it's not unusual for them to tell other people to get lost.  I think rather than being so profound, we should all turn off the GPS and get a little more prolost - why even scripture says that if we want to save our lives, we should lose them - and that sounds very anti-profound, and prolost.   So, let's all get lost!

(It was different yesterday, probably better, hard to recall.  Recycled snark just isn't the same.)

 

[zil]

Shall we try "profundity"?  After all, who isn't profundity?  The very nature of ditties is "fun".  Hmm.  That makes the term self-redundant.  It could have just been prodity (though it's lacking a "t", but it's so fun, that no one will care).  Not to be confused with produty, which definitely isn't redundant with profunduty.  Of course, if you're all broody teenager, or angry spouse, you probably aren't profundity - a fun ditty might make things worse, unless it's a really good one - then you might be smiling in spite of yourself.  Though if you're a broody teenager, you'll probably be upset with whoever forced you to smile - then you'll have to go put on more black eyeliner and find something really depressing to think about.  Hopefully you'll grow out of that phase and become profundity again.

(I begin to see why snark should not be resisted when it comes - people who want to suppress snark are just no fun - anti-funsnarkity, that's what they are.)

[prisonchaplain]

I thanked @zil's profound prolost post because it buttressed the OP. Thus, in my not-so-humble opinion, the post was insightful, in that it put the OP within its sight and caught the fullness of it.  Yikes...I tried way too hard. Bottom line:  @zil WINS!