05. Words Matter

Love.

Hate.

Each of those words elicit a visceral reaction in me.

LOVE: an intense feeling of deep affection.

“babies fill parents with intense feelings of love”

HATE: intense or passionate dislike.

The LOVE I have for my children, for my wife, for my friends and family all are such an important part of my being, who I am. When I say “I love you” — it truly means something.

HATE, on the other hand, is a word that I try not to use very often. Passionate dislike is not a place that I mentally like to be, but in today’s climate, I am exposed to lots of self-proclaimed hate.

As a father, I am keenly aware that the words I say are being interpreted daily by my kids. My wife and I try hard not to curse in the house as an illustration to our kids on the way we think they should speak. Words matter.

Recent rhetoric has become too charged and too heated. Words are thrown around too often without thinking about how they may incite others to act. Look back at the tragic shootings of police officers as well as the tragic shootings of unarmed people of color, as a vivid example.

After Donald Trump’s latest (and perhaps worst) verbal assault, in which many people (including me) interpreted to incite violence against Hillary Clinton or Supreme Court justices, has helped illustrate once again that words matter. The words we speak have consequences. I thought Thomas L. Friedman’s reaction to the Trump speech and his illustration of Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination perfectly captured how words matter.

I hope Americans can take a collective breath, turn down the vitriol and collectively love each other (perhaps unifying around the Final Five gymnasts, Katie Ledecky & Michael Phelps?).

Maybe, just maybe, we can begin to hear our leaders say another two words which could go a long way in ratcheting down the anger… 
“I’m sorry”.