Just Words

The idea for this posting came from a Letter to the Editor in the Kansas City Star from 9/21 that was pointed out to me (Thanks Mom). In it, Gene Wolenski said:

"I can understand Ascension Hernandez disliking the Minutemen, but let's face it, calling an illegal alien and undocumented immigrant is like calling a drug smuggler an unlicensed pharmacist."

Once I stopped laughing it occurred to me ... maybe all of our problems are merely an issue of the words we choose to describe them. Maybe simply putting the right spin on a word or phrase is the answer to all of our problems. So let's give it a try:

- Bank Robbers are merely making a withdrawal without proper account documentation.

- Terrorists are merely misunderstood freedom fighters.

- Suicide Bombers are merely self-sacrificing warriors in a cause.

- Bigots are merely those who form an opinion without regard to the facts. 

- Liberals are merely those who let their compassion control their good sense. 

- Conservatives are merely those who let good sense control their compassion. 

- Tyranny is merely the single-minded pursuit by a government of a particular point of view through force. 

- Welfare programs are merely a government's way of perpetrating what would otherwise be considered illegal wealth redistribution. 

- Social Security is merely a savings account in which you deposit money knowing that you will never get it all back. 

- Congress is merely a Constitutionally mandated form of organized chaos. 

- Common Thieves are merely out-of-work Politicians (or is it the other way around?).

OK, I feel better about everything now, don't you? Of course they are all just words, but words do mean things. We need to be careful of the words that we use, the words that we listen to, and especially the words that we are handed as "the truth". They should not be used to misdirect, mislead, or obfuscate (yeah look that one up if you dare).

In the end, I am reminded of something that a friend of mine (one who actually admits it) Wayne Anderson, says in order to put the best face on difficult situations: "I don't have any problems, only opportunities. Unfortunately, all of them suck."