Frog Applause by Teresa Burritt for October 04, 2009

Wow. Powerful words and art.

flyingflowerpot, Amen…

Very artistic.

Silence does not heal. Silence conceals. Silence covers over. Silence slowly festers….

Η γλώσσα κόκκαλα δεν έχει και κόκκαλα τσακίζει…

…and words are all I have to steal your heart away

B. Gibb

Every once in a while, Ms. Dowlatshahi and Frog Applause makes me just stop cold and think long and hard. This is one of those times.

if you were silent in the first place. Better to say nothing than nothing at all, or is it if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything? I think both apply. Very good T. Dowlatshahi

This is excellent. One of your very best, Teresa!

I want to make a comment on something 3hourtour said yesterday. He was wondering how much of Teresa’s comic depended upon our comments and how much our comments added to the impact of the comic itself.

I think todays comic proves the answer in both cases to be, none. It is so powerful, so poignent that it can stand alone. I could have easily read todays comic and felt it’s full impact without ever having read your comments.

I do want to add why I think the comments section is important. While I can enjoy, appreciate and understand the comic on it’s own my experiance is improved by being able to share it with you all. Rarely do we see something as thought provoking as todays comic. Without the comments I would be enjoying it in solitude. It is nice to have someone to share it with, thank you.

And thank you Teresa. When I read todays comic it made me think of my wife. A woman long ago damaged by words that I struggle every day to help heal.

And I’ve used too many words today. Hope you all enjoy your weekend.

sorry kinda noob here…couldn’t get the idea behind this cartoon…care to explain

words are so powerful, but so is the tone and body language that carry them… a word itself can be innocuous, but the way it is said can do all of the damage. unfortunately that seems to be a lesson lost on a lot of people.. thanks Theresa for a wake up call

rishiwelcome, what does it say to you and your life experiences?

They say, rightly, that actions speak louder than words. But I’d have to say that there are some words that even actions can’t heal. At least, not for a long time. In the end, only forgiveness heals. And that is in the lap of the offended, not the offender.

gangerh is in some awe of this one.

4deer joins you there.

A vicious silence can gouge more deeply than a vicious word.

I have a feeling E glossa kokkala den echei kai kokkala tsakizei… is part of a famous quotation we should all know; I’m so embarrassed. Old Wolf? Don’t just throw that out there and then wander off….

That looks eerily like my favorite aunt, now deceased, when she was that age.

Often I look at the words people use on each other on-line. Talk about wounding. Sometimes we should all practice more silence.

4deerinmyyard, “The tongue does not have bones, yet it breaks bones” is a Greek proverb….

4deer: “Glossa” is Greek for “tongue.” I had guessed it was from the book of James, which has a famous passage about the tongue, but I don’t see it there. Sorry to say, I’ve forgotten almost all my high school Greek, so we’ll have to wait for Old Wolf to show up.. Anyway, it’s appropriate to quote James Chapter 3, verses 6-10:

“6The 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.

7All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man,

8but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

9With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.

10Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. ”

In New Orleans, there is a group caled “Silence Is Violence” which refers to the astounding lack of witness cooperation in curbing the insane murder rate there.