eric
January 13, 2008
My phone (a Sony Ericsson W300i) is lovingly nicknamed “Eric.” Eric does not know how to swear. His SMS vocabulary does not include certain four-letter words that we know and love.
But I do. Half of the time, I am not proud of it. Some of the time, I kind of am. Much like the way smoking makes a kid feel all cool and grown up. Some of the time, there is simply no other way I see fit to express how I feel other than to repeat them under my breath like a backwards mantra.
Most of the time, I don’t even know why… they just pop out… not so much that I startle people on the street, thankfully, but enough to make me wonder where the H they came from.
They’re just words. Said in anger or frustration, sometimes extreme dislike (because ‘hate’ is a word I’d really rather not use although it too is merely a word). It’s all about context because the same words could be used to express delight or fondness.
One girlfriend often tells me she hates me. She wrinkles her nose and rolls her eyes and says, “I hate you!” in this slightly higher-pitched voice. She says this virtually every time we’re together because I always tease her so lovingly.
Yet people are offended by words, no matter what the context. I don’t blame them completely, especially if they have spent all their lives knowing that it’s wrong. And we all know how hard it is to change things that you’ve just known all your life.
I have long been fine living in a bubble and not needing to know what is going on in the world. But it’s been increasingly difficult to ignore the world beyond my doorstep and stay sane at the same time. You can’t not care anymore.
Which is why it would be so wonderful if everyone could understand that there is an infinite number of possible objectives behind the same four letters… and stop to notice that this person (from which the four letters are coming) has a genuine smile on their face and looks eager to have a meaningful conversation.
If people stepped out of the circles they usually mingle in, and were open to discovering different points of view… if only.
