Use Your Words... But Use Them Wisely

I like words.  Good thing since I write a weekly column for a local paper and often appear on several radio shows throughout the month.  However, in the last couple of weeks, I've come to really despise some words  that have been overused conversationally and in writing.  Those three words are pathetic, puppet and empowered.

Never before have three words sparked such an internal visceral effect from me.  Those three adjectives were used by people who wanted to convey their "message" to me.  Yeah, I get it, I'm not dumb, but instead of conveying their "message" using those words, they made me angry; almost as angry as I get when I hear "Stairway to Heaven" on the radio. I'm different these days for sure but those three words made me positively homicidal last week.

I've used the word pathetic to describe an action or a person but I never actually realized what a mean ugly little word it really is until I decided to look it up.  When I looked it up, it sent me straight to the toilet to puke. 

The definition of Pathetic in a nutshell was the description of an individual  who is "miserably inadequate".  In other words, when you call a person pathetic you're saying that they're nothing more than pitiful and pitiable.  Looking at that definition made me understand that I'm really going to think twice before using that word ever again.  After all, at one point in time or another, all of us have been pathetic; that's the curse of humanity.  However being pathetic shouldn't be a forever sentence to serve in our lives.  It is just a passage that no one should have to be reminded of.  And with that, I am banning the word pathetic from my vocabulary.

Also on the ban list this week is the word Puppet.  A long time favorite word of mine when describing ineffective elected officials.  I use this word pretty frequently and thought nothing about it until receiving a couple of unsolicited phone calls about an elected official who has constituents  calling him a puppet.  However this time they were describing a family member.  So after listening to these callers, both of whom used that word,  off I went to the dictionary...again.

The definition of Puppet sent me back to the toilet; A puppet by definition is a person or a party who is under control of another person, group or power.  What sent me back to the toilet actually, was the possibility that this description might be true.  But when you think about the synonym of puppet, you realize that they are describing an empty headed doll. Nobody wants to hear that someone you love is under the collective thumbs of others.  Those two callers, while invading my private space did wake me up.  I'm gonna have to be really careful when describing elected officials.  Nobody deserves to be called an empty headed rag doll and I won't be using that term anytime soon to describe an elected official.  I still believe that most elected folks enter into office for the most altruistic of reasons but often fall off the path.  Still, I am banning the word puppet from my vocabulary.

The final word I am banning is Empower.  Gosh darn it, I have a female friend who calls on a regular basis to "empower" me.    The old me would really like to say "bitch... you just have no idea how powerful me and my word processor are".  "Empower", to give one total control over others... to give one 'the power".  Hahaha this woman must have no idea of what this actually means... when she uses the word empower, what I really think she means is that all women need to cut off the balls of those who don't agree with them/her/.  She has no idea that really when you trust someone with power, you actually have to put your trust in them 100% to do the right thing even when it isn't popular.  Its not about emasculating everyone in your path.  The people I write about may momentarily wince when I have their balls in a vice but they all know that no matter what side they may be on, I'll be fair to them.  It might be painful but it will always be fair; even if I don't like you or agree with your policy.

Being "empowered" doesn't mean that I'm going to speak negatively about my husband and daughter.  Talking about those you love the most doesn't empower me as a woman; it makes me a shriveled up little wench.  If I have a thought about either one of them that may be less than flowery, then being an "empowered woman" means keeping it to myself.

Banning these three words from my vocabulary is hoped to do two things for me.  As an adult,  it is high time I return to civility.  Slinging poop and poor adjectives doesn't make me a responsible adult.   And secondly the banning of those three words forces me to give up any grudge I have for another, and, then putting it out there for everyone to see.  I'm returning to the era of civility, are you?