Arrogance and Malicious Speech Have Taken Over Our School

ar·ro·gant

 

adjective

1.

making claims or pretensions to superior importance orrights; overbearingly assuming; insolently proud: an arrogantpublic official.

2.

characterized by or proceeding from arrogance: arrogantclaims.

— adj
	having or showing an exaggerated opinion of one's ownimportance, merit, ability, etc; conceited; overbearingly proud

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/arrogant

There it is: it doesn't make any difference who we are or what we are, there's always somebody to look down on! somebody to hold in light esteem, somebody to be indifferent about.

Mark Twain

A person unlearns arrogance when he knows he is always among worthy human beings; being alone fosters presumption. Young people are arrogant because they always associate with their own peers, those who are all really nothing but who would like to be very important.

Friedrich Nietzsche

     I have decided that I am sick of arrogant people. This blog will seem more like a rant at times and then like a rebuke at other times. Just bear with me here because I have about had it with people at my high school.
     There are people that have been in a lot of my classes for a few years now. I take mostly advanced classes with these people so, of course, they are smart and good students. I have noticed before how arrogant they can be but I am now ready to call them out if I have to. I am sick of hearing about how dumb people at our school are. They are talking about some of my friends and it kind of bothers me. Even if some of these people weren't my friends, it would still bother me because God has given me a compassionate heart and I feel others' pain very easily. Today at lunch, someone mentioned that college prep classes are for the smart students and vocational classes are for dumb students. The "smart" people that I was eating lunch with today were not only talking about students but also teachers. One of the teachers mentioned is my best friends cheer coach. My best friend happened to be at the table with us today. I do believe that it hurt her to hear her cheer coach being talked about in a malicious way.
     Do these people not know that when they talk about others it is malicious speech? The Bible says in Proverbs 15:4, "The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit." In James 3:6, the man of God tells us that the "tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell." In verse nine of the same chapter, James goes on to say, "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness." In Ephesians 4:29, Paul commands us to "not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
     We need to be careful with our speech and remain humble. How can we become the best we can possibly be if we are constantly looking down on and talking about others? I intend to make a 360 in the direction of my speech and pride. I want to be a light for God in my speech and attitude and I hope you plan to do the same.