When you realize the importance of words, beware of becoming a fanatic. This has been my state for decades. Since 7th grade, when Miss Croghan taught me sentence structure and discovered and nurtured my natural talent for spelling, I’ve loved words. In every issue of Reader’s Digest I’ve ever held, I first turned to the feature “Word Power” feature, as I know that’s where the value lies. Words are the reason we have such big brains - this I discovered in my research on caveman thinking. As for Reader’s Digest, the print version is no longer being published!

You may recognize the phrase in the title of this post as being from John I in the King James Bible. While I make no claims to religion, I do recognize my religious practices, and it fascinates me to think that “the Word” was stated clearly as “the Beginning” in one of the most popular books the world has ever known. It reminds me of “abracadabra,” which translates to “As I say, so it is.” It sounds like, “Let there be light.”

Let this be the beginning of a report on a recent incident in Toastmasters. In my next post, I’ll provide details on an exchange between myself and another member. I realize that I am not a member of this club, so maybe I should not have been so vocal when sharing my feedback. Also, I learned that some do not readily accept constructive criticism when it isn’t sugar-coated, and sometimes, the acerbic nature of my comments may be painful to those with more sensitive feelings. In plain English, I said something that hurt someone’s feelings, and although I had good intentions, I learned to be more careful with future comments and feedback. C’est la vie!