...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