Well, the great experiment is over. Starting yesterday, I can swear again. Nothing screams “Easter” quite like dropping
a few F-bombs. Yes, when I said I was giving up curse words for Lent, I was serious. (Would I ever lie to you?)

But I’m not perfect. Throughout the past five weeks, some words have escaped my lips, here’s the tally:

F-word: 3
S-word: 5
A-word: 3
D-word: 1
H-word: 2
P-word: 2
C-word (take it easy, it rhymes with “trap”): 3

Even with all of that, I would consider my Lent a success. I learned a thing or two about self-control (and about James Madison — thanks, Wikipedia!), but the road to cleaning a dirty mouth was a rocky one.

The first few days tested my sanity and I’m legitimately surprised I didn’t break down into a mess of twitches and mumbles about ‘Nam.

I’ve heard this is common, though, amongst us cold turkey-ers: Once you decide to give something up, you begin to obsess over it; it’s all your mind thinks about. So for two solid days, my mind was clogged with cursing as if I had developed unrelenting mental Tourette’s. I work at a job where I deal with hundreds of customers a day and I’m astounded I didn’t cuss one out to prevent my brain from exploding.

But I learned a valuable lesson from it: moderation. These past few weeks taught me that I don’t necessarily need to use the F-word as a stalling mechanism when I speak. And it made me realize that everyone could use a little restraint.

See, I’ve always carried the belief that swear words aren’t “bad” words. Unfortunately, some people utilize them in a negative way that hurts other people, and suddenly we have bullying or a hate crime or a new Limp Bizkit album.

However, because I understand that there are those among us that feel uncomfortable around S-words and D-words, I try my hardest not to use them in the wrong contexts. I don’t succeed most of the time, sadly.

We all have those vices, whether it be cursing, gossiping or cracking knuckles (my mother said if I keep cracking them, they’ll stay that way), and there are people out there that find these behaviors off-putting. A gut reaction
could be to say, “Up yours, prude,” but often times it’s bad to go with your gut, depending on the amount of gastrointestinal medication you’re taking.

I don’t expect to live in a world where swearing is a thing of the past (like dinosaurs and the Zune) because I’m a realist. However, if it bothers other people, I’ll tone it down. And the best part of my Lent experiment (or, shall I say “experi-Lent?”) is that I know I can do it.

Does that make me a better person? No, I’m still pretty awful (see the above pun), but I’m working on becoming a functional member of society.

…And now I can sing along to my favorite N.W.A. songs while I’m working on it.

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