So I had a reminder not so long ago on Facebook of just how powerful words can be. How different words have different power to different people and that perhaps we should all be a bit more careful... no... more thoughtful of what words we use and how we use them.
As a Ceremonial Magic practitioner and as a Druid I know the power words can have. I know that if used improperly things can go horribly wrong. Though one's intentions may be honorable the power of the word itself has great sway. But here is the catch... each person, each culture, and each region can have different meanings, even slight, for a word. This can really cause major issues with more than one person is using a word.
What happened was there was a celebrity made some horrible comments about gay men and their sexual activities. My intent was to basically say 'pot calling kettle...' but pointing out her sexy activities and that she had NO place at all to talk about anyone's sexy activities. The word I used for me applies to anyone, not just females, that have multiple partners in a short period of time. (I am not repeating the word because of my new awareness.) So there were some people who have a very different view of the word I used. It caused a great deal of hurt feelings. I just could not understand why they were getting their feelings so hurt.
So after some reflection with my most trusted sounding board, I came to realize that even mundane words can be just as dangerous when there are different meanings to different people. So my lesson was if I know a word has multiple meanings to first take time to contemplate how others might react to the use of said word before I use it. I would challenge you all to do the same.
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