Mean Girls — The Tongue is a Smoldering Fire

Film:

Mean Girls, 2004

Starring Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, and Tina Fey

Synopsis (from IMDB):

Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) has just returned to the United States with her parents after growing up in Africa. Cady is a teenager, who has been home schooled her whole life. Her first day in class as the new girl will be her first encounter with the public school system. As the new girl, where will she fit in? Cady first makes friends with two geeks (Daniel Franzese and Lizzy Caplan). Then she makes friends with the most popular and beautiful girls in the school, known as `The Plastics’ (Lacey Chabert, Rachel McAdams, and Amanda Seyfried). Cady wants to fit in and now she has friends from two different worlds. To keep them as friends she must do things she has never done before, such as being deceitful, scheming, and finally untrustworthy. She discovers who her real friends are in the end. Douglas Young (the-movie-guy)

My Thoughts:

Mean Girls is a case study in the importance of trustworthiness and loyalty, as well as a warning against the ills of gossip, backbiting, and vanity.  Instead of being preachy, it approaches these topics through the lens of Teen Comedy, showing us the problems these vices can cause.  However, don’t be fooled by it’s glitzy and amusing nature, this film is tackling some heavy issues that all teens, and in fact all people have to struggle with throughout their lives.  And through “coming of age” we can gain some wisdom as to what the more important things are in our lives, but the challenge of gossip by no means ends when you walk out that door with a diploma, and the politics of high school can quickly become the politics of one’s life if left unchecked.   I think that is why the Spiritual Leaders of World, have given us councils, in order to help us navigate these tumultuous waters.  One quote that I find supremely fitting is:

“That seeker must, at all times, put his trust in God, must renounce the peoples of the earth, must detach himself from the world of dust, and cleave unto Him Who is the Lord of Lords. He must neverseek to exalt himself above any one, must wash away from the tablet of his heart every trace of pride and vain-glory, must cling unto patience and resignation, observe silence and refrain from idle talk. For the tongue is a smoldering fire, and excess of speech a deadly poison. Material fire consumeth the body, whereas the fire of the tongue devoureth both heart and soul. The force of the former lasteth but for a time, whilst the effects of the latter endureth a century.”  ~ Bahá’u’lláh

However you can find similar councils in the words of Jesus or Mohammed, as well as in the writings of modern spiritual leaders like the Dalai Lama or Gandhi.  The point is that we all are aware how powerful words can be.  The “tongue” is a weapon, and when those words are recorded (whether on paper, or in the hearts of the people who heard them) they are hard to erase.  It is this power that may have inspired Edward Bulwer-Lytton to coin the maxim “The pen is mightier than the sword”.   This is why I find it so appropriate that in the film the cliche’s insult journal was called a “burn book” as that’s exactly what it did.  Think back to high school and I am sure that there was probably some one who said something that sticks with you today, that may still sting.   If we can take anything away from this film, it is that we should all try to be more careful before we try to “burn” someone.  It the heat of the moment it might seem like what we want to do, but it could cause a scar that lasts a life time. Instead we should all just try to be a little kinder, and a little more compassionate.

Or karma could do it’s thing, and you could be hit by a bus.