[03.06.08] A California city has declared this week No Cussing Week. Standing in sharp contrast with Los Angeles, its neighbor eight miles away that has battled irreverent gangs for decades, South Pasadena, Calif., officials hope to promote more civility throughout the city, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
South Pasadena Mayor Michael Cacciotti and the city council declared yesterday that No Cussing Week would continue through Friday.
“It's part of exercising self-discipline,” Cacciotti told the Pasadena Star-News. “It's about treating each other with love and respect. Profane language causes pain, anger and could lead to violence.”
Though the city council has designated the first week of March as No Cussing Week, the idea did not originate with the council but with a 14-year-old high school student.
When McKay Hatch was in junior high he became despondent with the abundance of colorful words that many of his friends were using “to fit in.”
“I finally told my friends ‘I don't cuss.’ And I said ‘If you want to hang out with me, you don't cuss,’” Hatch told the AP.
He admits that it took a few years for some of his classmates to rally behind him. But eventually 50 Pasadena High School students agreed with Hatch’s idea and last June held their inaugural No Cussing Club meeting.
Nine months later a Web site was launched, which now boasts numerous chapters and 10,000 members throughout the U.S. and the world.
“My mom and dad always taught me good morals, good values, and not cussing was one of them,” Hatch told the AP.
Hatch’s parents, Brent and Phelecia, are co-authors of the family handbook Raising a G-Rated Family in an X-Rated World.
