Pig with a Gold Ring

Pig with a Gold Ring

Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout

Is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion.

Proverbs 11:22

My father was not a church-going man.  But he had met the minister and his wife, and expressed his appreciation and regard for them, so my mother invited the pastoral couple for lunch.  Toward the end of the meal, my dad shifted uncomfortably in his chair, and then passed gas loudly.  Whether due to embarrassment or orneriness, he followed with a comment that was as ripe as the gas.  My brothers and I valiantly struggled to tamp down the giggles, and my mother looked ready to slide under the dining room table.  The pastor and his wife never blinked an eye.

At the time, I had never heard of the word “discretion,” but this family story has been handed down since that fateful luncheon as an example of what discretion is and is not.  Webster indicates that discretion is “,,,behaving or speaking in such a way as to avoid causing offense.”  These are the childhood lessons I learned at the table that day: 

The pastor’s discretion helped my mother get past my father’s indiscretion.

Trying to joke your way out of an embarrassing situation will only make it worse.

Some things are simply not funny.

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O be careful, little mouth, what you say.

O be careful, little mouth, what you say.

For the Father up above is looking down in love,

O be careful, little mouth, what you say.

Children's S.S. Song