Words can get you into trouble. Ask any politician, any celebrity, any person, in fact, who’s ever opened their mouth. Everyone has, at one time or another, uttered something they probably wish they hadn’t. So I wasn’t totally surprised when, a few days ago, I was asked by someone if there were any words--outside of the obvious ones--that I would never say on the air.
My answer surprised the person who asked the question. But I hope it doesn’t surprise you.
There are words that some people use all the time, and words that people use all the time, yet never think about why they use them. In that latter category falls a word that I can’t bring myself to use, even though it’s a word that people bandy about freely, like the sound of it is the sweetest thing on the face of the Earth.
It’s a word that’s been around forever, and it’s a word that, sadly, seems to be part of our genetic makeup. I know it’s in the Bible, I know it’s in Shakespeare, and I know it’s been used by half the country while describing the other half.. It’s four simple letters that, on their own, mean nothing, but when you put them together, it just doesn’t seem, well, right.
The word I’m talking about, the word that surprised the person asking me the question, is “hate”.
Is it just me? Is “hate” that bad of a word? Am I just strange in that I feel uncomfortable using it? Even when talking about food that makes me gag, or people whose political views make me gag, I can’t bring myself to use “hate”. I may “dislike” them, or find the food “repellent”, but I have yet to meet a person, a food, or a situation so bad that “hate” comes into play.
Of course, maybe I’m lucky. Maybe I’ve lived enough of a charmed life that I’ve never been forced into a situation where the actual use of the word “hate” pops up. If that’s been the case, just ignore me. But it sure seems that so many things on this planet would be, I dunno, better if “hate”, both the word and the emotion, weren’t part of who we are. I mean, think of everything we as humans have done in the name of “hate” (a list that goes on and on and on). You may (to quote a great philosopher here) say that I’m a dreamer, but just think of it. Imagine a world without hate.
Nice place, wouldn’t it be? I mean, it'll probably never happen...
But just imagine it.
No comments:
Post a Comment