What "If"...

I have in the past written about words that I love. That post was a fun one to do. This time I decided to write about words I don't particularly love. There are some I will refrain from touching on because I think most people don't like them. Some of the more vulgar words, and not even necessarily swear words, but words that should be deemed swear words. Let's get to my list though.

First off I do not like the word less. The word all by itself denotes smaller amounts than others, or things. But add it to most any word and it creates sadness, defeat and just plain nastiness. For example; Hopeless. What a sad word. You have taken a perfectly good word that is the cornerstone of most religions, most uplifting literature and a word that is used countless times in the scriptures and made it something sad and devoid of light. Another example would be defenseless. This is how I view my children, especially when they are small, or how I view special needs people, homeless (there it is again!) people, etc. It is so sad that we even need a word like defenseless in the English language because that means that there are those that would take advantage of someone who cannot defend themselves and we have to have a word to describe said situation. How sad!

Secondly we have the word dark. This word is used to describe the loneliest time of night right before the dawn... "It's always darkest before dawn". It's also used to describe the souls of certain people. When someone has a dark soul we know immediately what they mean, right? I am sure innocent children and babies were never described as "dark souls". Or what about the great men and women who inspire us? Are they ever described as "dark"? I think not. I might also not like this word so much because it is the exact opposite of what I love the most. Light. Literally. Light, sun, bright, happy, hopeful and so on. No, I do not like the dark!

The last word I am going to highlight might just be one of the worst words ever! If. That's it. IF. "What if?". This word clouds our good judgment, it scars our past and makes us leery of our future. "What if I had chosen to go out at a different time? Would I have hit that child with my car?" "What if we I hadn't left the kids alone in the tub?" "What if we move and we hate it?" There are an infinite number of ways to use the word "if" and although there are some that are ok, most in my opinion are not. Using the word if means you don't know. Don't know which way to go, how to explain a painful event and where your life has come from. Right? If leaves too much room for doubt. You begin to question everything. Your faith, your hope, your decisions and your life. After all the if-ing you end up with a feeling of hopelessness and finally you can end up in the dark. What a vicious cycle, huh?

So friends, lets steer ourselves away from the negative words and focus on the positive. Hope, joy, fun, love and so on! I will try to keep focused on those instead of the negatives. Help me friends, help me and I will help you!