Protected: The darkness of America

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The tongue is a smouldering fire…

For Gabrielle Giffords, now in the twilight between this world and the next; for Jared Loughner, lost in the night of madness; for his victims, now in the kingdom of the impossible; for my fellow Americans, who have too long dwelt in the wilderness of angry discourse; for myself, who has too often spoken in impulse rather than thoughtfulness:

“[The seeker] must never seek to exalt himself above any one, must wash away from the tablet of his heart every trace of pride and vainglory, must cling unto patience and resignation, observe silence, and refrain from idle talk. For the tongue is a smouldering fire, and excess of speech a deadly poison. Material fire consumeth the body, whereas the fire of the tongue devoureth both heart and soul. The force of the former lasteth but for a time, whilst the effects of the latter endure a century.” — Baha’u'llah, Gleanings, paragraph #213

“O Emigrants! The tongue I have designed for the mention of Me, defile it not with detraction. If the fire of self overcome you, remember your own faults and not the faults of My creatures, inasmuch as every one of you knoweth his own self better than he knoweth others.” — Baha’u'llah, The Hidden Words, Persian #66lle