Words That Matter (TGBOL)

/ Al Lane

This week’s prompt for The Great Book of Lists is “words that matter”.

“Words, as simple as they may seem, possess power. Once spoken, you cannot take them back. Once said, it’ll be either white or black.

“So today, let’s make a list of those words that has pushed you forward, to do good, to be glad. Words that kept you standing. Words that encouraged you to keep moving. Words that picked you up. Words that lit you up. Words that introduced you to an unknown world. Words that explained you the meaning of life, even beyond earth.

Those words deserve to be shared, so let’s share them today.”

Here is my list of words that matter:

“I will”
The promise made on my wedding day. Not the “I do” that you tend to see in films and stories, but the forward-looking “I will”. And I will.

“Do. Or do not. There is no try.”
This is a quote from Yoda in Empire Strikes Back, back when his lines actually carried some deeper meaning rather than just being backwards-spoken gibberish (yes, this is another moan about the prequels). If you set out to “try”, you are already accepting the possibility of failure. Set out to “do”, and let your positivity carry you forward.

“Try this at home”
Frank Turner is a particular inspiration to me. His folk-punk music, and “try it yourself” attitude, directly led me to take up the electronic pen and try poeting on my own. I could quote so many of his lyrics, but the following two are particularly important to me:

And I won’t sit down
And I won’t shut up
And most of all I will not grow up
“Photosynthesis”

Because we write love songs in C, we do politics in G,
we sing songs about our friends in E minor.
So tear down the stars now and take up your guitars:
come on folks and try this at home.
“Try This At Home”

“Love you, Daddy”
Yes, it’s cheesy, but I could hear this all day long, from either of my boys. They light me up, every single time.

“More money, more doughnuts”
I wanted to end on something different… this phrase is one my six-year old came up with recently. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more succinct summary of capitalism 🙂

So, these are the words that matter to me. What words matter to you?

 

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Picture credit: flickr.com/photos/_sk/2638831430

34 thoughts on “Words That Matter (TGBOL)”

  1. Those are wonderful words! Some of mine are the same (ones that pertain to marriage and family) but I can’t think of many other ones off the top of my head. One set of words that I do think about a lot, especially when I get depressed from rejections, is from an instructor I took an art class from many years ago. He said it to a bunch of art majors: “You guys are lucky she [meaning me] isn’t an art major or she’d blow you all away.”

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  2. Enjoyed this post, I would agree with all of those. I’d add in: ‘I said I would’ (being true to your word), ‘you (I) are (am) enough’, ‘sit with me & breathe’ (when the girls are upset), ‘if you try your best, you never fail’.

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  9. I don’t know which of the last two I like better–the love or the doughnuts! Kids have a way of getting it just right! By the way, my wedding vows used “I will” also, and I remember thinking it was odd until I considered the semantics. Words can be very powerful!

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