...Nice...
“Nice”...pleasing...agreeable...delightful...amiably
pleasant...kind... We're familiar with the word, know its synonyms even if we've taken part in some nice-bashing in the past, when the word
has gotten a bad rap for being, well, “too nice”...
“Play
nice.” “Be nice.” “That's not nice.” “Nice!”
(...excited, in a positive tone...) “Nice...” (...disgusted, in
a sarcastic tone...) We've probably heard and said the
word in all these tones and contexts.
“Nice”
does not exclude truth or differing opinions but, rather, provides a
sweet flavoring for them, making truth and differing opinions
hearable, swallowable.
Billy
Bob Thornton's acceptance speech for his recent Golden Globe award
was three short sentences: “These days you get into a lot of
trouble no matter what you say. I mean you can say anything in the
world and get in trouble. I know this for a fact, so I'm just going
to say 'Thank you'.”
...nice...
I
don't know what Mr. Thornton's intent was in saying what he did, if
he had opinions or comments he wanted to say and did not, and whether
he felt truly restrained from saying them. I was glad he had thought
about the implications of what could potentially come out of his
mouth and decided to simply – and nicely – say thank you.
There
has been a serious shortfall of nice lately, even more than usual in
a world with an already large nice-deficit. Somewhere we've gotten
the idea that our opinions and perspectives can't be said nicely if
they are to be expressed with any impact. Free speech may speak to
an important truth, but without nice, free speech often becomes a
crude, crass and brutal bludgeon. The recent movie, The
Interview,
may voice a political opinion (solution?) regarding the leader of
North Korea that lies unspoken in the minds of some, but it is not
nice. The satirical publication Charlie
Hebdo
speaks out - crudely, crassly, brutally - against what it sees as the
dangers and excesses of its favorite targets - the Catholic Church
and Islam. Very, very not nice...
Of
course, the SONY hacking and the slaughter of the Charlie
Hebdo
staff is über-not
nice and is no way justified no matter how very not nice The
Interview
or Charlie
Hebdo
cartoons were first. In an interview with NBC, Gerard Biard, Charlie
Hebdo
chief editor, defended the publication's religious satire this way:
“Every
time we draw a cartoon of Mohammed, every time we draw a cartoon of
prophets, every time we draw a cartoon of God, we defend the freedom
of religion...We declare that God must not be a political or public
figure. He must be a private figure. We defend the freedom of
religion. Yes, it's also the freedom of speech, but it's the freedom
of religion. Religion should not be a political argument.”
Biard
doesn't mention the total absence of nice in his justification of
Charlie
Hebdo's
style of free speech. But Pope Francis didn't shy away from it.
Though condemning any killing in God's name, he pointed out there are
limits to freedom of speech, and other people's religion should not
be insulted or mocked:
“...in
freedom of expression there are limits”...freedom of faith is a
fundamental human right, and that "one cannot provoke, one
cannot insult other people's faith, one cannot make fun of faith."
The
subtext of the Pope's comments? “It's just not nice...”
Some
years back, in a serious mid-life pursuit of art, I took a number of
college drawing and design classes. Wanting to avoid the “cute”
and “sentimental” in my projects and hoping my artistic
exploration would be a bit more edgy, I adopted the following verse
from the book of Philippians as my art verse:
Finally,
brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if
there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think
about these things. (4:8)
The
word “true” allowed me a lot of freedom of expression, and the
“honorable”, “just”, “pure”, “lovely”, “commendable”,
and “excellence” tempered whatever I freely expressed. I avoided
the “cute” and “sentimental”, and sought the excellent true.
What I think I often achieved was “Nice!...” And I was O.K. with
that.
I've
been thinking about this verse again this week in light of the
Charlie
Hebdo aftermath.
The show of support for the satirical magazine in recent days and the
printing of its latest issue has only angered and riled the Islamic
people who believe their prophet and religion is again being
ridiculed in the public media. Not nice begets not nice, and in some
cases, über-not
nice. The author of my art verse, epistle writer Paul, started out
himself as someone über-not
nice. The book of Acts says he ravaged the early church, dragging
off and committing men and women to prison, breathing threats and
murder against the followers of Jesus as well as approving of the
execution of Stephen, all in the name of religious purity. But his
letters to the early church are often full of nice, only explainable
by his encounter with the living Christ on the road to Damascus.
And, yet, Paul remained just as zealous in his desire for Christ-like
life to be genuine in the lives of the early Christians as he had
been zealous in his earlier religious attempts to keep the Jewish
religion of his youth untainted by the teachings of that same living
Christ. In his second recorded letter to the Corinthians, he talks
about his previous letter written to the same church, one that he
refers to as “severe”, addressing the problem of teachings
contrary to the gospel. He reiterates his warnings
against false doctrine and licentious behavior in his follow-up
letter, expressing his desire not to have to be severe. Some of
the last verses of this letter are firm, yet gracious :
For
this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when
I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that
the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing
down...Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one
another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love
and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
(13:10-12)
Amazing
how an encounter with the living God will change a person...
...very
nice...
Years ago my mother
used to say to me, she'd say, "In this world, Elwood, you must
be" - she always called me Elwood - "In this world, Elwood,
you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant." Well, for years I
was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.
-
Jimmy Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd in the movie Harvey
