Show-Offs and Screechers: When Sounding Off Is Annoying

I was so excited to visit my grandparents in Florida. Every year, we went down to their house, and every year, something new and weird happened. This time, it was the “Proud Screeching Fowls with Foul Mouths.”

My grandparents live in a quiet neighborhood, or at least, it used to be. Granddad told me that when he was little, there were only two of them in the neighborhood, and they lived in this big, walled-off compound down the street. You know, like a gated community of one family.

The place was super mysterious. Granddad said he and his friends used to run by it as fast as they could. Older kids swore there was a creepy old man inside who turned kids into animals. That sounded scary to me.

But after that old man left, the residents inside the compound escaped.

Now, they roamed the neighborhood for small children to eat—or at least scare. They walked in the streets, hung out in people’s front yards, and dug up big sandy spots to wallow in the dirt. Sometimes at night, you would see them making faces at their reflections in patio glass doors. They spat and hissed when they did this.

One of the creatures was the worst. Every night, he spied on Granddad’s bedroom from a giant oak tree next to the porch. The tree’s thick branches stretched over the roof. And every night, like clockwork, the beast would let out the loudest, most terrifying screams, making it impossible for Granddad to sleep. Granddad told me that it sounded like someone stepping on a cat. Then, the others down the street would start screaming back. “It’s like they were having some kind of argument over who could scream the loudest,” he said.

One evening, when I was sitting with Granddad on the porch, I asked him, “Why are they so noisy?”

He looked up at the tree and smiled. “Well, they are beautiful to look at, but they’re way too proud of their good looks. It’s odd that something so pretty on the outside can sound so terrifying when it opens its mouth.”

Then he opened his Bible and read me a verse.

“The tongue has the power of life and death” (Proverbs 18:21). He said, “Those creatures remind me of what the Bible says about our words. Just like how they look amazing when they are silent and showing off, we too can look good on the outside. But when we speak, our words show what’s in our hearts, and a lot of times it’s not pretty. We can either lift people or tear them down.”

He also showed me another verse from James. “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be” (James 3:10). He told me that just like these creatures screech after showing off, sometimes we praise God with our mouths but don’t use kind words with people. “Maybe from now on when you see noisy creatures, you’ll think of how others view you when you speak,” he said.

I’m not as scared of the peacocks in Granddad’s old neighborhood anymore, but I still don’t like their screeching. And I bet my parents didn’t like my screaming when I was young, either. Next time I’m tempted to “sound off” like a peacock, I’ll think twice. Maybe count to ten. And if I’m lucky, keep quiet.

 

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Retired or Retread? – Make the most of your life! Jim Reeverts is a former U.S. National Park guide and the author of Jordan Pond, Mount Desert Island, Maine.