The Sharp Tongue

A senseless disease thriving in one's mouth, it is a sword of indifference and selfishness. I know...I have been in possession of it a time or two.
It is that which can cause much injury without ever killing but leave one so mamed and scarred they wish they could just die. I know...I have dressed those wounds a time or two.
Born of anger, hatred, malice and the like it thrives on contention and breeds with unrighteous judgement. It knows no boundaries. It cares not who it possesses, who it hurts or why. Just as long as its thirst is satisfied.
It is the long, black, bending, twisted tongue of justification and defense. The one used when we no longer feel shame for the ignorant one-sided things we think and therefore let them spill from our mouths like a plague, torturing the unsuspecting souls who never stood a chance in our minds anyway. Often those passive souls are the ones who are forced to eat crow for every meal without even the opportunity to purge later.
You can predict it, but it won't matter. You can prepare yourself for it, but the cut still stings...it still bleeds. And that was the whole goal in the first place.
You can't dodge a sword without a shield for long. And even if you had one, the constant battle would eventually wear the metal down so that it shatters leaving you only fragments of self-respect to protect yourself with; or it wears you down physically so that you simply give up fighting and take the blow once and for all - just to get it over with.
It is said we should turn the other cheek. What do you do when you feel the other cheek has been sliced to the bone?
It is said we should forgive all men. What happens when you no longer feel forgiveness in your heart?

Beware then...for the disease is within you.