360 Degrees: The Power of Words

I don't swear. Profanity and all of its vulgarity, all of its curses, all of the 'sailor's tongues' had always made me turn my head. About 1 out of every 20 of my friends agree with me. The power of the words said can be regretful, but there is something to be said about their strength as well.

Swears are spoken on rare occasions for a reason; or at least, they are meant to be. Intended to express sincere, intense emotion, swears can fulfill their job. However, many high school students have relied on them too heavily and now I find many can't speak a literate sentence without wanting to throw that extra word between pauses. Which makes me wonder, what does modern society benefit from the use of swears? I felt that swears were often said out of hate, and in a moment of vulnerability. The few times I swear, I never achieve the satisfaction I want and have just ended up trying to apologize to those I've offended. Keep in mind, I tend to apologize more than the average teenager, though. So in the moments people just let out a curse, is it a weight they try to lift? Does Gosh Darn** it really capture one's emotions better than a good ol' Gee Jolly Wilikers? Sure, if its the principal of the matter, having a right to swear and let one now your level of seriousness could be useful. Relying on it to be taken seriously in my mind is a rights movement waiting to happen... but maybe that's my head working on a tangent. What I do acknowledge is teenagers relying on it as their daily vocabulary. What's the point in that case? I can no longer tell if my friends are sarcastic or serious, angry or just joking when they cuss me out.

I think there are a lot of benefits and disadvantages to swearing. There is some level of seriousness directly correlated to certain words, but in the same respect, there's a responsibility that you can be held accountable to those you hurt from your comments. My method of no swears may be lacking one of the more powerful ways to grab attention as a teenager, but swearing constantly makes one a fool and removes the power behind the statement. I think there's potential, but not to the aspect that I'll be changing my vocabulary any time soon. This very much is a careful balance.