Undone

In light of the recent exchange of comments on Ryan's blog, this is a great article that speaks to the impact of modern technology on communication and sociology. Wouldn't it be great if we had the option of deleting words that come out of our mouth after hindsight reveals they shouldn't have been said? While we can't erase words that have already been spoken or undo actions that have already been done in reality, it is a comfort knowing God can. Through the power of grace, repentance presents our error filled lives for editing by our Savior, through which he can indeed make all our imperfections "undone."

10/29/08
Undone
Jill Carattini

Merriam-Webster’s “Word of the Year” is an honor bestowed on a new or old word that is chosen for its representation of the year’s cultural milieu. Considered for this past year’s award were words such as “blamestorm,” a noun which describes a meeting that is held in order to find out who is to blame, “facebook,” a verb that means to look up a person’s profile on the popular networking site, and “pecksniffian,” an adjective which describes someone or something that is unctuously hypocritical. Ironically, the word that was chosen for best summing up the year 2007 is not in Webster’s dictionary and spelling enthusiasts are sure to be unamused by its peculiar configuration. “W00t,” spelled with double zeros, is an exclamation of joy, excitement, or triumph. It comes from a language used by computer programmers and online gamers, in which letters are replaced by numbers. Merriam-Webster’s president commented on the quirky technological choice: "It shows a really interesting thing that's going on in language. It’s a term that’s arrived only because we’re now communicating electronically with each other.”(1)

Much has been said recently on the influences of technology, blog culture, text messaging, and internet search engines on the way we obtain and retain information, the way we interact with each other, and the ways in which we think. Merriam-Webster’s choice of “w00t” as its word of the year is just one demonstration of how we are adapting; it is indeed ironic that a dictionary should choose to praise a word that is not in the dictionary. Another study on “information behavior” conducted by scholars from University College London suggests that we may well be in the midst of a reprogramming of the way we read and think.(2) Some of their observations are fascinating; others are causing due alarm. Yet however we choose to look at it, technology is unquestionably shaping the way we see the world.

As someone who spends a great deal of time on the computer writing and editing, one of my most cherished technological functions is the ability to “undo” something. With the flip of two fingers--one on “control” and the other on the letter “z”--I can remove the sentence I just added the page, take back the word that did not quite fit, or reverse the effect of every previous command and restore my document to its original condition. No matter how many actions I have taken on the page, I can undo every one of them--and this is often useful! Technologically, it is a feature to which I have grown quite accustomed--so much so, that I find myself believing that nothing is really lost, and that everything can be undone, erased, or retrieved. And I cannot begin to calculate how many times I have thought about this function when I have needed it in places far from my computer screen.

Of course, reality never takes long to jar me back into a world with vastly different rules of operation. We cannot undo words that have already been said or take back actions that were less opportune than we anticipated. Hindsight, by definition, is a vision that is no longer available to us, no matter how urgently we would turn back time and “undo” what has been done. Our actions and inactions, words, lies, and blind spots cannot be expunged like a spreadsheet or a document. The biblical resolve that our “yes” be our “yes,” that consequences be weighed, and the cost of our action or inaction be counted at the outset is a far wiser and practical vision. And of course, it is far harder work. “But which of you,” asks Christ, “intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?... Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?” (Luke 14:28,31).

Warning the crowds to count the cost of discipleship, Jesus spoke in terms that would cause the faint and the indecisive to run. He also begged them to see that how we live, what we do and say, matters deeply and cannot be undone. We cannot undo foolish words spoken in anger, the regret of a lost opportunity, or the act of walking away from someone in need. Nor can we undo a life that let Christ pass by while we had our hands on other plows. But we can choose to live faithfully today. Christ invites us to fashion our legacy as faithful and dynamic followers from this day forward, ever looking to the one who is in fact able to undo a life that is anything less.

Jill Carattini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) Stephanie Reitz, “Merriam-Webster’s Word of ‘07: ‘W00t’” The Associated Press, December 11, 2007.
(2) “Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future,” University College London Online Briefing, January 11 2008, http://www.bl.uk/news/pdf/googlegen.pdf, accessed October 1, 2008.