The Story Behind the

Years ago in a Jensen Beach, Florida mall parking lot, I heard a mother screaming at her young son (~9 or 10). She finished it off by him calling him a "stupid idiot." It broke my heart to hear her degrade her son that way and to see the heartbroken look on the boy's face. I understood she did it out of fear because he almost was hit by a car; however, it could have been handled in a more loving way.

Since then I started paying attention to how the s-words are used and abused in our society. It comes down to two things: we say them to put people other down or worse, to put ourselves down. When we say an s-word we say it in negative way and most often in anger. "How could you be so stupid?" "What a moron." "What a ma-roon" (as said by Bugs Bunny) "What idiot came up with this idea?"

Very few things we do or say are truly 'stupid'. Most are accidental and/or clumsy while others are just a failure to process an idea all the way through. except...

My quest is to eliminate the use of the s-words; to use instead. I dare you to be angry and say "How could you be so ?" "What a ." "What person came up with this idea?"

People who say "I have a stupid question" usually end up asking a question that others had been thinking but were afraid to ask. How much better would it be to say "I have a question" instead?