Way back in the day, in the hood, if your brother (or sister) said something profound that you could attest to you replied with….Word Up!…or just Word!  Then of course there was Word To The Motha! – which signified it was really profound, and you really dug it.  Ok, now that I’ve chased that rabbit down it’s hole here’s the thing I really want to get to.

For as long as I can recall I’ve loved words.  During my four years of high school I learned a new word every day.  I kept sheets of paper taped to my bedroom door with each word, the date I’d learned it, and a checkmark when I used it in a sentence or writing.  Even now, nearly 30 years later the dictionary widget on my MacBook gets used 3 or 4 times daily.

Words  move us, shape us, make us laugh, make us cry, make us dance, encourage us, motivate us, incite us, and inform us.  Words are the vehicles in which ideas travel.  You might not have a politicians access, or the funds of a venture capitalist, but you do have the same words available to you.  The same keyboard to type them on, and the same access to the internet to spread your words.

At first you might not choose the best words to convey your point, or your text might be typo laden (as mine often is), you may even write words you are not living up to just yet.  Don’t be overly concerned with it.  The important thing is to choose words that matter, that make a difference, that move, and inspire us to higher ground.  Fix the typo’s latter, and strive towards them as you go.

Something To Make You Go Hmm! In 1776 Thomas Jefferson, while still a slave owner, penned the immortal declaration “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights…” Two centuries later we still don’t always get it right, but the words themselves provide the compass that helps us to determine if we’re moving in the right direction.

So go ahead and W-O-R-D Up!

Bonus

Something Else To Make You Go Hmm! One of the best, and most powerful use of words is to use them to challenge us to live up to other words.  “I still have a dream, a dream deeply rooted in the American dream – one day this nation will rise up and live up to its creed, “We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal.” I have a dream…”  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.