It’s getting pretty foul out there, and not because it’s fire season Published June 4, 2010 By Rex Jones 21st Space Wing Equal Opportunity director PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- It was, "one of those days," Lea said as she described her experiences to me. "I was already late for work when the Colorado Springs Police Department pulled me over for speeding. At the office, the computers were down. By noon, the banana I'd brought for lunch was squishy and finally, as I sped for home at the end of the day, the needle on the car's fuel indicator shook convulsively as it was sucking on the fumes in my gas tank." Lea doesn't recall uttering any profanities during her day's irritations, but in all likelihood, she did. She goes on to say, "I whipped off Powers to find the nearest gas station only to discover all the pumps taken. Making matters worse, as I impatiently waited; some woman in a 'beemer' tried to inch ahead of me and cheat me out of my territorial rights," she said. At this point, Lea is confident that she muttered some choice words under her breath -- although, she doesn't recall exactly what they may have been. Eventually, she filled her tank, ran inside to pay -- only to have to wait in line for the privilege of forking over money. "Now, I'm swearing silently about another delay in my life. The guy in front of me asks for a pack of cigarettes when the clerk requests to see his ID," she said. Lea stated that the appeal for identification was more than the customer could stand and he burst forth with a string of verbal garbage. She said that she stood observing the exchange more out of a sense of indifference then anything. "All I wanted was to pay for my gas and get on my way, but my indifference vanished when the clerk (reacting to the profanity), with fire in his eyes and passion in his voice growled, 'That's enough! There is a young lady present.' Needless to say, the fouled-mouth offender was stunned and so was I," she said. "No one had ever protected me from offensive language before." As we continued to talk about the incident, Lea began to realize the significance of the entire episode. She agreed that something needs to be done about profanity, yet few of us ever do anything about it. On the contrary, most of us contribute, if not to its proliferation, at the least to its continuation, by swearing ourselves or making no attempt to curb it in others. Truth is, many of us can recall the less-than-delicate language that rolled off our tongues throughout the years. When you were mad, when you were glad, when you attempt to be dramatic and, yes, even when we had a day similar to what Lea described above. As we continue our conversation, Lea asks herself, "Why hadn't I told the culprit to knock it off when the first raunchy words came out of his mouth? Would I have been hypocritical if I had said something to him? I didn't even give it a second thought." Lea asks some valid questions that we should all be asking ourselves. Has this language become so familiar to us that it goes unnoticed? Recently I read an article that stated although Americans do have a concern about all the unbridled profanity around us everyday, the reality is that we are swearing more and hearing it less. Personally, I see absolutely no value in the use of profanity. But, I'm unclear as to how we solve this problem. So, I'm simply appealing to you, the reader of this article, to think twice before using words that don't really represent you or the United States Air Force very well. With all that said, I'm curious as to what your views are regarding this subject. Has it become a normal part of conversation or have you sworn it off? Do you tell others that it offends you? Let me know your thoughts by e-mailing me directly at rex.jones@peterson.af.mil. Not to be misleading, I'm not likely to respond back to you; however, I may use your feedback as fodder to a follow-up article.