the rethink tank...

Eyeball, originally uploaded by impactmatt.

The Montreal Gazette (the main anglophone newspaper in Montreal) has had an ad (has had an ad... thats sounds fun) running for the last little while about how "words matter." For example...

John can't wait to play with his kids.

you take away "with his kids" and all of a sudden John could sound like a problem gambler.

So I thought about words in my life and how I need to look at them differently and not take them for granted. How we interpret words gives so much meaning and power to them. English swear words are crazy powerful in English, but drop the f-bomb and Quebec and most people won't blink an eye...especially if you conjugate it... its quite colorful actually.

One word that I have had a hang up about for many months now is "repent." You say this word and automatically visions of some Medieval version of God pop into my head who is all about punishment and retribution for the evil things that you have done. It conjures an image of a dog with his tail tucked between his legs and a flick of fresh crap on his nose as payment for defiling the floor. I hate that the word repent has been turned into a bad word, a scary word, a fighting word...

For those of you who have a background in French, Spanish, Italian, Latin... whichever... the word actually based around the concept of thinking. The french word in penser, which means to think.

"REPENT!!!!!"

rethink... rethink what you are doing. What in your brain is making you do this? Do not think the same way that you have before, but change your thoughts. Make change happen from the inside so that the outside will reflect the transformation. Become a new creature. The old will be gone and only the new will remain. (Where have I heard that before?)