broken glass

Yesterday I handled a lot of broken glass. In my garage, I had a number of large pieces of glass and a large mirror. All were cracked, or chipped, or just not worth keeping. So, I broke them up into a number of small pieces. In addition to many other bags of garbage, I had four bags (triple layer) of broken glass to get rid of. I used my winter gloves to handle the glass and as such I did not get even one single cut. That task made me think about the pain of getting cut. I have experienced that a number of times in the past. When we get cut, it hurts. We bleed and our wounded appendage needs attention. None of us like the pain we feel, but it is actually a very good thing. It is our bodies' way of telling us we are injured. Without pain, we would cause greater harm to our bodies because we would not realize the extent of the injury and we might not give attention to our wound. That could lead to an infection and even death. So, the next time you cut yourself and you feel like yelling or swearing, don't get mad, be thankful. That pain may very well save your life.

the "F" word

My son says the "F" word, not because we say it or because he hears it on tv, but because he is only two and has trouble saying words like fork and frog. So, it sounds very much like he is saying that awful four letter word. The first time I heard him say it, I was a little surprised. And then I laughed, not at him saying the word as much as the innocence he has. My laughter made him say it even more. I try not to laugh anymore. The reason that him saying it is not offensive to me is because he is not trying to say that word and he doesn't even understand what that word means. When someone else says it though, it is very offensive. Years ago, I worked in a factory and one of the workers said that word like it was going out of style. He used it as creatively as possible. I think he used it as about every part of speech. It was very offensive. When you think about it, there is nothing wrong with the letters in the word, and really not anything wrong with putting those letters together, it is what those letters mean when they are put together in that way and are then spoken to someone. Words mean something. They can be used to tear down and to build up. I realize the power of my words when I compliment my wife and she smiles back at me, and then when I say something unkind and her face drops. Our words are powerful. Remember that the next time you hear the "F" word. Too bad that we will all hear it again all too soon.