I Swear

I picked the wrong shoes, so it's already been a long day! The notoriously broken, uneven sidewalks of this neighborhood make walking anywhere quite an undertaking. The whole body gets involved in keep that little SOB straight! The arms and hips lean it left or right of a crevasse/pothole, the torso keeps the back straight. My legs and feet? Well, I already have to work harder and think faster to make sure THOSE are in line. As many a physical therapist throughout my life has told me thousands of times, "heel toe, heel toe, heel toe"...as if I could trick the subconscious mind into correcting the errant signals between brain and foot:) Add to that the sidewalk slabs that jut higher or lower than the rest so I run into them, stopping me dead and causing me to have to back up and go around the obstruction, cursing all the way. You didn't know I curse, did you? Well it's usually to myself, or when no one is watching, but yes I curse--like a sailor:) But I keep it in check some times. I'm a firm believer in "time and place." Certain things are not appropriate in certain situations, or with certain people. I very rarely let a swear slip at church, for example. But on the phone together, my brother and I let the foul language fly! It can be cathartic. I was also just at an event downtown that I walked to (how I discovered my shoes are all wrong), and there could certainly have BEEN a lot of swearing thrown into the discussions had--but because of mutual respect for each other and the cause we were all supporting, there was none. There were raised voices, but no swearing. Reflecting on this, I wonder, is swearing THAT bad? I know it's not professional, and some might say it's "not ladylike", or just "not nice." But if you use it sparingly, keeping in mind the parameters of time and place and audience (you wouldn't swear around a gaggle of grandmothers, for example, would you?), it can be an effect tool for creating emphasis. Professionally yes, swearing is not necessary. Unless you're a fiction writer! In that case you can have one or all of your characters go to TOWN with the use of profanity:) But I myself have never felt the need in my own writing, and I write a lot of fiction on my own. But privately and personally, why the eff not? See the restraint I used there? That's 'cause I consider this blog my sacred professional baby, and I don't want it corrupted! But if I intended this blog to be about only personal stories and gripes and the usual blog banter, I'd absolutely close here with an expletive:)