"Words are all we have." --Samuel Beckett
Do you think you are "good with words?" Why or why not?
Ummm....(that should give my answer away).
I love words, I'm just not always the best word-tender. I rake them into sarcastic, dry rows, I muddle them with anger and insecurity. Words are powerful things--another of those simple, dear gifts our Creator grants us that we somehow twist and ruin.
But that's on a bad day.
As a writer (I'm cautious to use that word, it is more like "as someone who would like to grow up one day and be a writer"), I enjoy the weight and heft of words, I carry word combinations around with me (like "the delicious scent of rain" in "The Story of an Hour") and run over them again and again like pearls on a string. I even like a random heap of words and pulling out pairs of them...just to hear how they sound together.
My favorite word is "kaleidoscope."
But the question is...am I good with words? And yes, when I slow down my thoughts and my days enough to weigh each one, I am good with words. It's the gift given to me, and I wish I did more with it. I wish I didn't just wish for that--and actually did something about it.
But, really, what this question really brings to my mind is the simple truth that we either overuse or neglect words. Sometimes, things need to be written down, said aloud, told, given away...
And other times, we say too much. We want to take the long strand of negativity, of lies, of gossip, of opinion...and roll it back inside. Rewind. Take back.
I want to be "good" with words in this way: I want to use each carefully and creatively. In all times and situations.
I am challenged by that.