Day 12 – The Tongue

The word “anatomy” was not yet in my vocabulary when I learned and started singing what I now call the “anatomy song.” I’m sure I heard it for the first time in late Cradle Roll and sang it almost every Sabbath through Kindergarten and Primary Sabbath School. The children’s song warns the mind and different body parts to be careful. The third stanza cautions:

“O be careful little tongue what you say
O be careful little tongue what you say
For the Father up above
Is looking down in love
So, be careful little tongue what you say.”*

Psalm 139:4 says, “Before a word is on my tongue, you Lord, know it completely” (NIV). So, even before I utter a word, good or bad, God knows it completely.

James likens the tongue to a bit in the horse’s mouth, the rudder of a ship, and a fire. He admonishes us to “tame the tongue” (James 3:1-6).

Conflagrations may be set off by such a small thing as a matchstick carelessly lit and tossed. It was unknown if that caused the forest fire I experienced.

It was Thanksgiving Day in 1959. My brother and I were looking forward to cutting and hauling Christmas trees in the mountains of Angwin, California, for one dollar an hour. We were in our late teens, students at Pacific Union College. It was chilly and somewhat foggy at that altitude. Soon, sunrays were peering through tree branches and leaves. Shortly before noon, a fire ignited. It spread widely, and fast, fueled by dry twigs, bushes, and foliage carpeting the ground. Seemingly in no time, our work area was ablaze. Oak, pine, poison oak, and other flora burned; even some of the pine we had cut a few hours before. The good news is, no one was injured. Most of the Christmas trees were spared. The county firefighters did an excellent job dousing the fire.

In medical school, almost a decade later, I was in a fraternity and was editor of our school newspaper. My fraternity brother and classmate was Grand Master. He asked me to print something. Doing so could be misconstrued as favoring our fraternity with free advertising at the expense of the other fraternity. He did not think so. Our disagreement escalated to very loud, heated, and intense verbal barrages. While neither of us was a physical threat to the other, we were clearly in a conflagration of words. We eventually slowed and quieted down. We discussed our differences of opinion amiably. I learned, again, to be careful with my tongue and to consider the fiery consequences of uttering hurtful words. He lives in New York. We have seen each other only twice since graduation in 1970: at our class’s Silver Anniversary and Golden Anniversary celebrations. Over the past four years, we have communicated by phone, email, Messenger, and Viber. Late last year, I asked him if he remembered the incident; he did. The good news is it “cemented” (his word) our friendship and brotherhood. (Our picture above was taken four years ago on the overpass bridging the two campuses of our school.)

Matthew 18:15 says, “If your brother acts wrongly towards you, go and point out his fault to him when only you and he are there. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother” (Weymouth New Testament).

Let me relate two stories to illustrate the truthfulness of the preceding text.

My wife and I had no clue that a couple, our close friends, wrongfully concluded that we spoke negatively about them, until they snubbed us at a party. Some days later, we learned why from a mutual friend. We went to visit with them at their home. We explained our side of the story; it was contrary to their perception. We are happy that instead of fiery words, we uttered pleasant ones, for, like Proverbs 25:11 says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver” (English Standard Version). Two generations of friendship were restored.

A couple of decades later, the husband was very appreciative of our being with him at his wife’s bedside as she was taking her last breaths. His health slowly deteriorated some years after that. We learned that he was living alone. We visited him at his apartment one afternoon and brought him food. His door was ajar when we got there. Hands shaking from Parkinsonism, he was trying hard to get into his trousers. We helped him do so. We noticed stale food on his table and in his refrigerator. We cleared those and set fresh food for him to eat. We assisted him with his dinner. We discarded his trash in the apartment complex trash can when we left. When the pandemic ensued a few years later, he passed away, still our friend.

A colleague and friend posted a derogatory remark about me in the global virtual newsletter of our alumni association when I was president. I phoned him and asked what he knew about the issue he criticized me for online. He had heard it from someone who heard it from someone else. Facts were convoluted, distorted, and twisted when they got to him. I explained the facts. He accepted his error. I do not remember if he posted a retraction, but friendship was preserved.

Not only is the word “anatomy” now in my vocabulary, but I also studied it in school. I now know that our tongue plays a role in various actions including the articulation of words. Words result from a complex neuroanatomic-physiologic interaction of the brain, tongue, and other body organs. And they may either be fiery ones spoken angrily, or favorable ones spoken affectionately. “So, be careful little tongue what you say.”

*Authorship of this traditional Christian children’s song is not definitively attributed to a single individual, according to Copilot.