Politically Correct?

"All you need say is "Yes" if you mean yes, "No" if you mean no; anything more than this comes from the evil one" (Matthew 5:37). Jesus tells his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount to purposeful in their words. He impresses on them it is not about being politically correct, but about being deeply authentic.

We have failed Our Lord in this respect many times, I'd think. We have not been true to our word, or we have not meant many of our statements. See, for instance, our various social network (WhatsApp, FaceBook, etc.) conversations. Very often they are empty. Very often they are not healing. We even have mindlessly and senselessly forwarded many items. I heard that the recent violent incidents in some parts of India have been trigerred by biased or unbased spreading of false news. We also receive many fake news or videos. We don't even care for truth before we forward. We can easily spread falsity and evil if we are not careful. We don't mean harm, but the results become harmful when we are not fully conscious of our actions.

So then, how to be authentic in our words? At various levels, we can be authentic: intellectual, moral, spiritual, ecological, economic, etc. As far as possible we check the facts if they are true. Perhaps we could apply the Triple Filter Test of Socrates. "Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to say is true? Is what you want to say something good or kind? Is this information useful or necessary to me?"

Therefore, before you answer a question or voice your opinion (or forward a message in WhatsApp), ask yourself: Is it true? Is it good? Is it kind? Is it useful? Is it necessary? This is a tall order. But we need to start somewhere, we need to start being authentic today.