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Interesting selection, isn’t it? All adjectives, nouns, or verbs depending on their usage.

Let’s start with Freaks. Its usage has fallen into the abyss of politically correct non-usage. The term is considered an insult by all who use it. Yet, for some it was and is a badge of honor. Those who worked in the carnival trades as freaks made a great deal of money allowing others to look at them. To stand there as people gawked and called them names under their breath. Or out loud. Yet for those who were true freaks the description became a proper name.

If you look up the various definitions of the word freak, it outlines many proper usages of the word up to and including the name given those with physical abnormalities. I often wonder how many of us feel freakish in our lives. Most young girls and boys do at one time or another. Feeling like a freak because you don’t fit in is a common lead in to suicide. The bullying that makes one feel like a freak is hard to overcome but it can be.

I like the word. I think it’s definitions match so many situations that it is an absurd word to put into the politically correct pile for removal. Removing a word doesn’t change the way people feel, it simply makes them come up with newer insults.

It is best if we teach our children, they are great in our eyes, so the opinions of others fall flat. Or is that a freakish concept?

I feel the same way about the word weirdos. Weirdos are people who don’t fit in.
At least they don’t fit in with those they often want to. I have discovered over time that one person’s, weirdo is another person’s awesome sauce. Again, many of our children feel isolated and alone because they have been called out as weirdos by those who are socially around them. We must ensure they own who they are.  And point out the ones calling them weirdos can be labeled as such from another’s point of view?

For example, a gay person thinks being with the opposite sex is weird if not disgusting. Some often call straight people weird. It is a cruel world where such insults happen, but it isn’t unusual for those who are different to attack those who aren’t. However, in my eyes we are all different and unusual which makes each person unique.

This leads us to bigots. What does it take to be a bigot? Hate is what it takes. Hatred for those in other groups who are different than we are. I wonder how many reading this instantly associates me as a bigot because I am a middle-aged white protestant heterosexual male?

This is a bigoted opinion. Are old white men bigots? Some are of course but many are not. Many were kids in the days of Martin Luther King Jr., such as me, and agreed with the man. It hurts to see his ideals thrown away by those who are the leaders of this day and age.

By leaders I do not mean the people in Washington D. C. who are politicians. They have no true opinion except for what they think will keep them in office. No, I mean the young men and women who are the influencers of today. The very same people who preach bigotry in their music, their lifestyle, their attitudes, and actions towards people who don’t fit into their version of how the world should be.

Look around you one day and listen. Listen to those who surround you. You will be amazed that bigotry exists in all colors, genders, sexual orientations, religious beliefs, and all those other groupings we place people in. In fact, it is a requirement for most if you want to belong. My question is, do you really want to?

This leads me to the final word – liars. This is a word I find fascinating. Everyone hates a liar and yet everyone lies. Lies come in all forms and usages spoken by all types of people. There is no one out there who can honestly say they have not lied to someone. Or worse, lied to themselves.

And yet, we particularly hold liars in contempt. Often the people shouting the loudest about how a person should be beaten or hurt because they lied tells more lie’s than anyone else. Lies and liars surround us by those we associate with. For some, lying is a requirement of the job. Spies lie. They must to survive. Police lie to get a confession. In fact, it is legal for the police to lie to you but if you lie to them, it is a crime. Serious double standards there in my opinion.

We can list a whole plethora of the types of people who lie within a moment’s hesitation. Again, these same people often take it as a betrayal if anyone lies to them.

I am not so much interested in the fact a person lied as why they felt the need. Lies often serve a purpose. One that we often think of as good and call the lie a white lie. Yet even a good lie told for the wellbeing of another person is still a lie. 

Of all these four words being called a liar hurts the most. And yet we all lie so why does it hurt?

I chose these four words because they have a profound impact upon people. Not many people can say they have not felt like a freak or a weirdo. They have not found themselves in the crosshairs of a bigot. Or been the perpetrator of a lie, or worse, a victim of one.

When something impacts people, it makes for good stories. Look at these words. Search for them in your life and then look at the story surrounding them. I’ll bet you anything you find a story worth telling. Once you do, let it flow from your mind onto a screen until you have the makings of a great book. All from simply observing the world around you.

I’m Ross, Editor-in-Chief at The Pyrateheart Press and I’m out.