VENTING-PART 2

I'm venting again. This time it isn't about words--it's about phrases and sayings that we have come to regard as truisms.  First one is "You can be anything you want to be." Nice sentiment and certainly a way to encourage youngsters, but the reality is, you cannot be whatever you want to be.  I wanted to be middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears, but at 5'6" and 130 lbs., that was never going to happen. Every year thousands of people migrate to Hollywood to become big stars, yet only a minute fraction of them will make it. The cold hard fact is if you don't have the innate talent, neccessary aptitude or physical attributes for a particular endeavor, you will never achieve your goal.

The next two sayings are really different sides of the same coin: "Everything happens for a reason", and "We're all put here for a purpose." Here is where my religious skepticism comes into play. Both saying suggest there's somebody up there who oversees all the moves and is manipulating our actions like pieces on a chessboard. Truth is, things happen because they happen. Not because there is some kind of mysterious motive behind it. Flip a coin. It will come up either heads or tails. There is no special reason why heads or tails came up. Just blind chance. To say each of us is put on this earth for a specific purpose suggests we are programmed like robots and have no free will.

The last phrase is one we have all heard. "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." That saying may have worked when we were kids trying to deflect the taunts and teasing of schoolyard bullies, but I think most of us realize it just ain't so. Probably the overwhelming majority of people, at some point in their lives, have been deeply hurt and wounded by someone elses words. Broken bones will eventually heal and be as good as new, but malicious words cut and wound, and if the wounds are deep enough, they will cause us pain the rest of our lives. So we must think before we speak, because words can be the most crippling of weapons.