Writings
The following remarks were shared at a Thanksgiving service which combined congregants from Temple Beth El, St. Hugo of the Hills Roman Catholic Church, and Kirk in the Hills Presbyterian Church. They were offered in response to a tribute bestowed upon Dr. Ritter commemorating forty years in ministry and twelve years of pastoral leadership in the greater Birmingham/Bloomfield community.
What do you say to someone when you are angry at them? I mean, really angry, and you want to reach into your arsenal of weapons for words that will hurt as they hit and poison as they penetrate. If it’s a marriage, you can always drop the “D” word. That usually gets attention. And if it’s not a marriage, there are words that begin with letters other than “D,” but I won’t enumerate them here. My favorite way of venting my spleen is with the “G” word….as in “grow up”…. “are you ever going to grow up?”….or “come back and talk to me when you decide to grow up.” It really gets to people when you question their maturity. It really gets to me when anybody questions mine.
