Seeing Everest.

One day, I would rather love to go and see Mount Everest. At least, to go to the Base Camp. That would be awesome. Part of me would love to go to the top, of course - but the rest of me reminds myself that rather a lot have died doing so. So perhaps not.

Looks rather pretty, though.

But I have my own Everest. It didn't start as big as that, but it grew pretty fast. I built it up. And kept building, and building....until it became what it is now. I'm talking about my idea of a relationship.

I didn't just put it on a pedestal. I fantasised about what being in a relationship might be like, thought about all the different things I might do or see with someone I was in a relationship with, what I might say to them. And the mountain just got bigger. But it was always on the other side of the world, well out of reach, and out of sight. I knew it was there, and I'd get there "one day". But not any time soon.

Recently, I had an experience where Everest suddenly became an awful lot closer. And it scared me. It scared me. And I ran. Nothing quite as dramatic as it sounds - but that's basically what it was.

The idea that this massive mountain that I had built, that I thought was somewhere far away, that I might never even reach for all I know, was suddenly right in front of me - was rather a lot to take in. Everest will do that to you, I guess.

You'd think that making a relationship work would be hard enough for me. But, of course, I have to go and make it harder....

I mentioned in a recent post that I struggle with the lie that I will never be in a romantic relationship. There is part of me that still believes that, at some level, and that's certainly part of the issue.

But I also think I need to start tearing down Everest.

Not because a relationship isn't great. And not because God doesn't want that experience to be amazing, and awesome. He does. But because, if I keep standing in the shadow of Everest, I'm not going to get anywhere. It's no wonder that I find it impossible. But if it's just one person - well, it's still hard, don't get me wrong. But I can work with that.

And when I find the right person, then we can start building together. Rather than me dropping Everest on them. I feel like that wouldn't be ideal. Yeah, let's not do that.

On Truth.

A couple of weeks ago, I did this post. I mentioned that we filled out a piece of paper that had a brain on one side, and a heart on the other. In the last post, I covered all of the negative ones from the brain side. In this post, I want to show you the positive ones from the brain side. And then I'll talk about the heart side.

Below are all the positive ones that I listed.

I am a son of my Father.
I am a man!
I am a brother of Jesus.
I am SEEN! I can reach people and do things that others can't.
I am LOVED! And I always will be.
I am made NEW.
I am a prince!
I can love and be loved.
I am in the truth. I am in the light.
I am an encouragement to others.
God has never left me alone, and he never will.
I am clean.
I can feel people's pain and comfort them.
I am a man of truth.

I was pretty happy with that :) I could probably add a couple to that these days, but it's a decent list.

Then we come to the heart side. The brain side was ideas and thoughts that we believed about ourselves; then the heart side was verses from the Bible either supporting or disproving these ideas. These are the ones that I came up with.

You are the God who sees me. Genesis 16:13 

I have loved you with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3 

Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 

I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and rescue you. Isaiah 46:4 

He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. Isaiah 53:5 

So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. Hebrews 2:11 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17 

So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. John 8:36 

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. Ephesians 1:4 

But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. John 3:21

These are the truth that I cling to, and remember. In a world full of lies, darkness, and pain - I do my best to live in the light, and in the truth. I fall plenty of times. But I don't try to hide that. Because that's not how to live true and right. It's hard. But it's so much better than trying to go it alone, doing it in your own strength, and going on what the world tells you. Nothing can replace the truth.

What Life Matters?

This will probably be a somewhat niche view, but hey! Who am I to care.

Over the past years, we've started moving towards a view where all human lives matter, at a fairly similar level. Most people, if pressed, will probably say that their family matters a bit more, or perhaps that people that can do more should matter more; but, generally speaking, we've moved away from the views that say that particular groups of people don't matter, or that they matter significantly less. At least in thought, if still working on it in practice; and with a fair bit of contention over when an embryo becomes a human, for example. That is not my topic for this post.

Rather, I want to start looking rather wider. To other sorts of life. And ask the question - where do they sit? How much do they matter? When it comes to animals, to plants, to bacteria, single-celled organisms; how much do they, or should they, matter, and what should that look like in our world?

For myself, I have a rather simple, if somewhat reductionist, view: all life matters. (Please do not confuse this with the terrible people who go around saying something very similar in response to #BlackLivesMatter. This is not that at all.)

Just this afternoon, as I was driving along a road where there's a lot of new development happening, I saw a big "Welcome!" sign advertising one of these new suburbs/areas. It was surrounded by trees that had just been cut down. It cut me to the core, and I had to remember that I was still driving and not go into the kerb. Somebody else probably looks at that and goes, "Finally, the land is cleared and I can do something with it!" I look that and go - you have just taken dozens, maybe hundreds, of lives. And it feels to me like an absolute travesty.

I look forward to a time when we can synthesise things like meat, wood, leather, cheaply - so we have no need, nor desire, to end lives. I hope and pray that I will see that day come around in my lifetime. But I fear that it is still very far away. And it makes me sad.

How many lives will it be too late for? How many species will be lost forever? How much of the planet will be surviving by then? To give you an idea, by the way; about 927 trees are cut down every second. And about 1775 animals killed. And dozens, maybe hundreds, of species going extinct each day.

How long?

Wonder-full.

I'd heard about the movie Wonder a couple of times before I went to see it. I knew that it was about a young boy with facial differences and his family, and I'd heard that it was very good. That it was based on a book, and I thought that it would be a good one to see, possibly to read later as well.

I watched the movie this evening, and it was rather incredible. I liked it for a lot of reasons, many of them rather emotional and biased. So I'll try and get the non-biased ones out of the way first.

For those that haven't seen it - the movie is about August, or Auggie, a boy with facial differences, who is going to school for his first time after being homeschooled by his mother. It goes through one school year. One of the things it does really well is that, every now and then, it will jump to playing the story from a different person's point of view. Like the sister, Via (short for Olivia); or Auggie's friend, Jack Will; or Miranda, Via's best friend. It helps you to see the other side to the story now and then, and understand the complexity of what's being portrayed a little more. At a guess, this is something borrowed from the book, where different chapters follow different characters - but not having read it, I couldn't tell you!

I also love the various pop culture references; which vary from Minecraft, to Star Wars, to Major Tom. Seeing random Chewbaccas or space suits popping up was awesome.

It's also great to see the overcoming of bullying presented here. And also showing that, often, the bullies have their own issues that they're dealing with - the bullying is more a show and demonstration of power, trying to be bigger when they feel small; trying to have control when they usually don't. As someone who went through a bit of bullying in school - though not to the same extent Auggie did, and never physical - I really appreciate that.

But what I really love is the heart behind it. The story. Every character here has their own story, their own journey, even if only for a moment. Even the bully! You get to feel their ups and downs, ride with them on the emotional rollercoaster of life, feel the real pitfalls that seem to keep coming. (I may have fallen a little in love with Via - and then checked myself when IMDb told me the actress was only 16. Yeah, let's not go there.)

Having a younger sister with Down Syndrome, I also relate quite well to what is portrayed in the family on-screen. It was rather easy to draw a lot of parallels between my own experiences and what I saw there; though I can't say I've suddenly found myself going from understudy to lead in a moment. (Mild spoiler, sorry!) So, by the end, I was pretty emotionally invested in the film.

And I think all of us can learn a bit from Auggie. And from those like him in the world. Not to put people that are different on a pedestal, just because they're different; or because they have something more to overcome; but for their heart.

Do yourself a favour, and go and see this one. You won't regret it.

"When given the choice between being right and being kind, choose kind." - Dr Wayne Dwyer

Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath.

Jesus said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” Then he turned to his critics and asked, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” But they wouldn’t answer him.

He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored!
Mark 3:1-5

On Lies.

During 2014, in the Life Group that I was in (for those not from that church - like a Bible study group, but you're doing life together, not just reading and praying [not to diminish the importance of reading and praying!]) did a series on identity. As part of that, we completed a bit of an exercise. We were given a piece of paper that had a brain on one side, and a heart on the other. I'll leave the heart for another post, because there will be enough to cover in this one.

On the brain side, we put all the ideas/thoughts that we believed about ourselves. Good, bad, anything. Even if we knew they weren't true, or weren't right - if we believed them somewhere, they went down. I had quite a few, and mostly negative. Not all, thankfully (mostly because of Impart, which was also that year), but quite a few. Each of the negative ones are listed below.

I am unseen, unnoticed, unneeded.
I am unloved, unwanted, uncared for.
I am alone.
I’m not really a man.
I am childish, and don’t understand.
My secrets make me unloveable.
I should be locked away, so I can’t hurt anyone by myself.
I am dirty.
I will never be free of my addictions and temptations; I will never be able to have a wife     and children without these affecting and scaring me.
No one would want to be in a relationship with me.
I will always hurt more than I help.
I am empty.
I am broken.
I only do things to be noticed and recognised.
What I say, what I write, what I make, doesn't matter.

These are lies. Plain and simple. Lies that I have believed, that have been whispered to me over the years, by the deceiver and accuser. Sometimes through people around me; sometimes through circumstances, and how I interpret them. And, in time, I came to believe them. Reinforced them.

Strangely enough, that rather hurt me, and hindered me. Stunted my growth. I wonder why? (Sarcasm, in case you can't tell.)

Three years on, and I'm doing much better than I used to, certainly pre-2014. And, looking at this list, there are some here that don't affect me nearly as much as they used to. But some certainly still claw at me. Some still linger, and I still feel their tug. If you haven't guessed, "No one would want to be in a relationship with me," shows up fairly often.

Slowly, I am working towards the truth, and affirming that in my life. But it takes time, practice, and patience. Another thing I still need to work on a bit more.

We all have lies that we believe. You will have a list just like this. It might be longer, it might be shorter. Chances are, if I thought about it again now, I might have a couple more to add to this one. It changes over time. But you can only fight the lies if you acknowledge their existence. You can't fight a war you don't realise you're in.

So wake up. Name your lies. Then work to shake them. Then work to replace them. With the truth. And that, my friends, is where the second post will come in. But first, for me, sleep.

On Noses And Grindstones.

I've noticed a pattern with many people of late that I think is rather....unhealthy, to say the least, and a little scary. But not altogether surprising, perhaps.

It's fairly prevalent with bigger charities and not-for-profits in general, I think, but certainly not exclusive to there, or always found there. It's also a lot more general than that.

Put simply, it's people being overworked. They don't have enough time in what they're given to do the work they need to do; so they stay longer hours, and work more, when they may not get paid for it. And it's a perpetual cycle, always playing catch-up, never getting through what needs to be done. There's always more.

And many companies will look at someone like this and go, "Fantastic! They're going through this work so quickly! Let's give them more work." Without really worrying about the potential dangers and difficulties that could arise from this. Yet this is almost the norm.

We could try and say that it's the people that are the problem, or that it's the companies that are the problem; but I think it's actually a little bigger than that. I think it's our philosophy that's the problem. Our philosophy of work.

I've talked before about how we tend to focus on work as the most important thing. And this tends to prevail, even if we say that family is more important, or friends are more important, or church is more important - sorry, they need to fit around work. Work comes first. There's an old saying that goes, "Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least." Yet this is what we constantly do. And because of it, often, other things will begin to wear down.

The story of the family that felt distant from their father because he was over-committed to his work is an old one. But we don't feel any need to change it, it seems; though we do have more gender equality at least, it could be the mother or the father now. Or even both, quite often. And yet this is seen as okay. As normal. Necessary. How else could it be? Shouldn't we all be doing 9-5, five days a week? (Though some cultures/people would look at that and laugh at how little that is.)

Well, put simply, no. I don't think so. If you don't have a family to go back to and spend time with, then maybe that's a bit different, but really - it seems strange to me for people to spend most of their time at work, making money, so they can then get home exhausted, flop down and do it all again tomorrow. Where has the joy in life gone? People shouldn't be having to choose between rest, work, and family. Work should be constructed so that the people working there are healthy, not drained. People need rest, space, time. But the world of today seems to move too fast to understand that.

I think that work should look a lot more like job-sharing - where you do it for two days a week, someone else does it three days a week, or something like that. Maybe you do mornings, they do afternoons. But, of course, the price of living is built around people working ridiculous hours. That's the problem. Particularly if couples want to raise children - it's typically not financially viable if they're not both working, often full-time.

I don't really have an answer for this one. I'm hoping that a combination of job automation and some sort of universal basic income will help. But it's hard to say. And it's harder to say when that might happen. But hopefully, in our lifetimes. I don't want to bring children up in a world hell-bent on working them to death.

Relationship Tips....from a single guy?

This one may be semi-tongue-in-cheek, but we'll see how we go. Stories may be edited/generalised somewhat to obscure identities. A bunch of these will probably be more for guys than for girls. Hopefully you can still get something out of this, girls! Probably a laugh or two...

1. Poetry....DO!
This is a fairly old one, and may seem somewhat cliché, but it works. A while back, a went to a good friend's birthday party, and I wanted to do something special for them. So I wrote a poem, and had it printed out all nicely and such, and presented it to them on the night. Later on, I asked if I could read it to them - and they rather liked it, if I do say so myself. So I made a little note in the back of my head - that when I was actually pursuing someone, I should try reading poetry to them. Reading it aloud is very important, because it's about how it sounds more than how it looks. Poetry is meant to be read aloud and heard, not looked at! As for whether this will work for girls pursuing guys....depends on the guy. It would work on me, but I'm not your typical guy. Know your audience! Always important.

2. Pester....DON'T!
Hopefully, someone will be able to learn from my mistakes, even if I don't seem to. While part of me likes to call it persistence, or patience, or perseverance....if they're giving clear signs that they're not interested, it's pestering. And it's not okay. I think I may have saved myself a bit of time and heartache (and a few other people, as well) if I was able to learn earlier on that "no" actually meant "no", and not "not right now". And as much as I'll like to cite examples of people pursuing their girl despite them being rather standoffish at first, and eventually winning them over - there's a difference between that and someone quite clearly saying no, and drawing a line. Respect is important, guys. Women like men that respect women. Should be a no-brainer, but sometimes it isn't.
I'll also note here - women, unfortunately, will often be pestered by quite a few different people. You see this even more online. You don't really get much of the reverse (unless you happen to be Chris Hemsworth or Tom Hiddleston). Be refreshingly different.

3. Paying....DO!
This is where we get into the semantics of what you call a date. I've said in the past that I've never been on a date - and I think I'd still say that now, but I'm stretching the definition a little bit thinner than I have before. I define it as two people who are in a romantic relationship, spending intentional time together to further that relationship. Anything less than that is a "catch-up".
There have been a couple of "catch-ups", though, that have gotten fairly close to being a "date". On both occasions, I offered to pay (we were at a café each time), and it was taken well. This may well change from person to person; at times, the girl may offer to pay. I think it's a display of generosity, which most people will appreciate. If not, then respect that; but it's good to offer.

4. Playing....DON'T!
As in, toying with someone. Don't string people along. If you're not interested, don't make them think that you are. If you are interested, don't try and make them think you're not! Mind games don't help anybody. They're mean, and can be quite hurtful.
I have to be quite careful, sometimes. When I'm around a girl that's my age, I can be a lot more...flirty, than I would generally consider myself to be. I'm good at fooling myself into thinking I'm just being friendly; and a moment later, I realise I've gone a bit far. It's particularly awkward when I've been fairly invested in pursuing someone else. There's been a couple of times that I've had to apologise for that. Which isn't great.

5. Leaping....do.
Sorry, couldn't think of a P for this one.
With my.......not so great history with relationships, you might have thought I'd put this the opposite way around. But no. Most of the bad stuff has been because I've kept at it after the initial "no", not because of making the initial leap itself. And while it can be gut-wrenching, uncertain, done badly or clumsily, often with terrible timing; I also know how it feels not to make that leap at all. And to wonder what might have happened if I did. And still wondering, sometimes, eight or nine years down the track. Some of those leaps - while being absolute trainwrecks - are memories that I hold quite dearly. Because they are moments when I'm actually being courageous, honest, and open. And I want to be more like that; rather than fearful, or shy, or cautious. And that's still a work in progress.

I can't think of any more neat points to put down. But I'll add a couple of quicker ones.

Don't go in with expectations. They aren't helpful. They tend to blind more than anything else, particularly when you expect people to be amazing. Everyone is broken, including you. Dating someone won't change that.

Don't have a long list of what you do and don't want in a partner, but do have an idea of what you can't wiggle much in. For example, it was only after I fell head over heels for someone that wasn't a Christian that I realised that was something I needed to figure out if I was okay with or not. And it wasn't - I wanted to be in a relationship with someone and with God together, not apart. I also rather like being vegetarian, but I'm not going to make that a requirement. Know what can stretch and what can't. And chances are, God will challenge you a little bit in that. Or love will, if you're a non-Christian reading this.

Understand each other. Can't emphasise how important this is. There are so many break-ups that happen because some undiscovered part of someone is suddenly revealed, that was really there all along if people actually bothered to look. But it's also about loving each other better. Use tools like the Five Love Languages, the Enneagram, all of it.

Forgive each other. You will make mistakes. They will make mistakes. These are indisputable facts that you can't change. What can change is how you react to them when they happen. Be gracious, be forgiving. Doesn't mean that you say that wrong is right - that's not what forgiveness is. Rather, it's choosing not to make a bad thing worse, and creating a burden out of it that you carry around. Because they're not fun.

Make each other laugh. Regularly, and often. :)

Be a little spontaneous. Good surprises are rather romantic. The old "unexpected gift, unexpected time....". Points if you know the movie!

Have little traditions. That are just yours.

Flowers. They're cliché for a reason. I rather love them as well. In case anyone is interested. Purple, preferably.

Secrets aren't helpful. Particularly if we're talking about a longer-term relationship - secrets will eventually come to light. It's much better if you do so yourself in a way that you can talk about it properly, and prepare for it. Rather than it exploding in your face, or something similar. It's also rather freeing.

Remember the little things. People like it when you remember things about them. It makes them feel rather special. Particularly if it's something they've only mentioned in passing, or if it's something that they wouldn't think that you would think of as important. Reverse psychology is fun, right?

That's probably all I've got for now. I'd add hugs in as a must, but I know there are some that aren't as partial as I am. But the number one important thing - listening. With the intent to understand, not with the intent to reply. Get that right, and you just might get somewhere. Let me know, will you? I'll probably still be here.

The Sky's The Limit! Or Is It?

This is a phrase that we use semi-regularly as a form of encouragement - the sky is the limit! It's supposed to mean that you can do anything, follow your dreams, that sort of thing. The origin of the phrase is thought to be around when aeroplanes started to be a thing, strangely enough. So in that reference, it makes sense.

But the thing is, this phrase is no longer true.

For decades now, we've been putting things beyond the sky, into space. And space - well, it probably has a limit. But we haven't been able to get there yet! And so saying that the sky is the limit is actually rather a limiting thing to say. It's an example of old thinking, thinking from nearly a century ago.

I'd even hesitate to say that space was the limit. I don't think that works. I think that we are unlimited. Not in every sense, of course. That's evident. But we are always able to do more than what we think or perceive. Our biggest limiter is always ourselves. Our self-imposed limitations and restrictions.

If we live thinking that the sky is the limit, then that's what we'll reach towards. But if we realise that we can reach beyond the sky - and, in fact, well beyond it - then perhaps we will be more daring. More adventurous. Live a more abundant life. And do something truly amazing.

Too Many.

If you've been on social media lately, particularly Facebook and Twitter, you may have noticed the #metoo hashtag showing up abundantly on women's posts. If not, tens of thousands of people are using and responding to this hashtag (and I think that's a fairly conservative estimate, or an old number). I saw it popping up for a while before I saw a post that actually told me what it was for. This is the gist of it:

"Me too... If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote 'Me too' as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem. Please copy/paste."

I should note, here, that this is something I've been aware of before. I have friends whose stories I have heard in relation to this, and I know that it's a widespread issue. But there's nothing quite like seeing post after post of friends saying "me too" to bring it home quite how big this is.

To give you a bit of an idea; there's been a few different studies over the years, trying to figure out what percentage of women have been sexually assaulted or harassed. The figures that come back vary rather significantly, depending on the size, location, and audience of the study; from one in four, to 30%, to over 60% in some cases. That's too many. Way too many.

But how about if we turn it around? How many guys have done the sexual assault and harassment? Again, it varies. Some studies, again, say one in four; and some, again, say over 60%. I'll note that the figures I'm getting are all from the US, so aren't necessarily global. They come from this article. Feel free to have a look for yourself.

Some guys reading this may be pretty proud of themselves, thinking, well, I've never done anything. This is where I need to reinforce: this is not something to be proud of. Not sexually assaulting and harassing other people is the bare minimum of decency that is expected of you. It is the zero mark. Anything less, and you're in the red. You shouldn't be proud of achieving the bare minimum.

Because the thing is, this isn't going to change if people just get shocked every time something like this happens, make a post on Facebook about it, and then feel good about themselves until the next time. And the next time. And the next time. This is a pervasive, constant issue. Change is only going to happen when it starts with us - and particularly talking about the guys, here.

I mean, I can say that I think all the guys that do stuff like this deserve a solid kick in the groin.

....but again, that's just going to alienate and distance people more. (Even though that's quite tempting.) That's not what we need. We need change. We need every man to see it as their responsibility to be a safe person to be around for women, someone that they can trust, talk to, be with - and feel okay doing so. We need to be actively teaching those around us what that looks like, modelling that to other guys, and making sure that guys get the message that treating girls wrong is exactly that - wrong.

Here, I'm going to borrow a line from the Good Book. "Treat older women as you would your mother, and treat younger women with all purity as you would your own sisters." (1 Timothy 5:2) Sisters. Mothers. Not objects. Not animals, and not yours. Every woman, every girl, is their own unique individual, with their own story, their own life, their own thoughts and feelings. You are not any more, or any greater than they are. They owe you nothing. They are their own. I can't say this enough.

Before, I said that the numbers from those studies were "too many". But let me tell you what too many is.

One. 1. Uno. A single person.

Even that is too many. One person that has been sexually harassed, sexually assaulted, is still unacceptable. Not 1%. Not one in a thousand. Not until this doesn't happen at all can we stop. Because this is too big. This is wrong. And it shouldn't happen.

Girls reading this - I do not offer any excuses for what has happened. There are none. There are no apologies or "sorry"s that can cover the sheer magnitude of what continues to happen, every single day, and what you all have to deal with from so many of us. And while I'm better at this than some, I'm by no means perfect. I think a lot of the troubles with this stem from porn and fantasy (though I'm sure that will be a contentious issue), and that's still something I struggle with. Added to that, I know there are times when I've made girls feel uncomfortable because of how I've pursued them in the past. I've been a bit.....obsessive at times.

But we need your help. We do not deserve your help, by any measure. But I think many of us will need it. Need women with a voice, who are willing to stand up and say no. Need women who are willing to say when a line has been crossed. Willing to tell us what we're doing wrong; and perhaps, even how we can do it better. You'd think it would be common sense. But unfortunately, common sense seems to be rather rare these days. I understand that many of you will not feel up to doing this; we have already destroyed your patience. And I am certainly not trying to say that this is your battle, your responsibility, or what you should be doing. It is our fault, and our responsibility, and our problem that we need to deal with. But I also know that the only way forward is going to be bringing as many people together as possible. Together, we can support each other; and together, we are heard.

Too many feel this pain. Too many cause this pain. Let's bring that number down.

Added note: If guys looking at the #metoo posts are getting angry at the "them" who cause all this - there is no "them", folks. There's just us. I guarantee you that at some point in your life, you've done something to make a girl feel uncomfortable. I know I have. It's not someone else's problem. This is something that everyone needs to deal with.

Not One, But Three.

I don't know what I'm writing.
I just know that I need to write.
I need to write, so that my mind will focus on better things.
Better things than what are plaguing it now.
Writing is a better thing.
Because, though words can be used to harm, and to hurt, and to wound -
They can also be used to heal, to build, to grow.
They are powerful.
And in writing, we are (hopefully) choosing words carefully;
Choosing the words with the most power in the right places,
Carefully constructing phrases and sentences to deliver a message well.
It's like making a building with explosive bricks.
Or nuclear bricks.
That's a better analogy.
You can use nuclear energy to build a bomb....
Or to treat cancer.
It is not too dissimilar with words.
And so we have a weighty task.
But one I accept gladly.
For I know words well.
Words are my friends.
They are familiar in my hands, and they do not abandon me.
Words have a beauty, a depth, each one unique and different, sounding and feeling unique.
And so many layers!
They are typed or written; seen; and spoken.
And each brings a particular focus.
A word that is awkward or brobdingnagian to type may be rather enjoyable to speak or see;
A word that is interesting to look at may be rather tricky to fumble the tongue around.
And a word that rolls of the tongue wonderfully may not be anything particularly interesting to see.
But this is the beauty of the word;
That it is not in one,
But in three.