Say the secret word, go ahead, just say it

Say the secret word, go ahead, just say it

I read somewhere that a monkey with a typewriter hitting keys at random could conceivably end up reproducing the complete works of Shakespeare-this is known as the “Infinite monkey theorem”. Of course it would take a while to do this but the idea that it is possible gives me hope. Then someone suggested that you could cut the amount of time down by using a million monkeys pounding away at a keyboard, that test is currently being conducted, it's called social media and the internet.

Some people have the uncanny ability to string together lots of words that really sound good, that roll across the tongue and are pleasing to the ears, these folks would include Abba and most politicians. And there are others who have absolutely no clue as to what they are saying and can butcher the attempt with minimal effort, these too are politicians but generally not the elected ones, you can also find lawyers in this group.

Words apparently come in categories, not the ones you learned in school like verb, noun, adjective, but good and bad. It's kind of interesting that two words describing the same steaming pile of sphincter deposition has one labeled as bad and the other labeled as good. And if you use the wrong one, then you too acquire the label. Because only bad people use bad words, the eyes of the Rangers are upon you, as well as a handful of fainthearted church ladies who will tell the vicar about your blasphemy. They'll swear to it. I have yet to find any place where it is a blasphemy. But certainly I understand that we have societal norms that control which words are acceptable in polite company. That's an interesting use of a word, polite. Polite company, or company that is so full of themselves and their importance that they get to make the rules as far as what you can say and how you can say it in their presence. For some of these people I can only come up with one word, and English word that is able to be a noun, a verb, an adjective, a pronoun and an adverb, possibly the only word in English that can hit all of the categories and still be effective and likely was the first ever word in sign language.

Every Sunday, Pastor delivers the Good Word, which is qualified as such since it comes from the Good Book. There are some people who claim to always use the best words which is hard to believe because the best words are all found in one book, the Dictionary. It was so hard to determine which word was the best, they had to list them all in alphabetical order.

Words are important. The fact that they exist is part of what elevates us above those poor apes beating the shit out of a typewriter. But more important than their existence is how we use them. Words are merely tools, laying about in the storage drawers of knowledge waiting to be exercised. Words can be inspirational used to promote hope, or words can be set to music used to grab the attention of the listener, which gives you such greatness and joy as “Ave Maria”. Words can be used to rally a nation, to soothe emotional turmoil, or to quell our other more primitive emotions and prevent the reactions driven by those emotions. Words are tools to convey the path to enlightenment, or they can be used in entertainment to make us all smile and laugh. In today's parlance and critical needs, words could be classified as organic and certainly sustainable. They are even recyclable. The best combinations of words will be around forever, the next combinations of significance can all be built out of those same words, rearranged and reused, over and over again without ever wearing them out, and if indeed they become trite, freshen them up with a new arrangement and a few other words, there's always a backup supply.

But like all tools, especially power tools and tools with sharp edges, they need to be handled with respect. And like all tools, they were truly designed to be beneficial and we should respect our tools and use them accordingly. Use our words to encourage, to praise, to comfort, to enlighten, to teach, to create, to build, to unite, to share, to enhance the human condition.

Remember, there are no bad words, only words used badly.