“Why do you swear occasionally on your blog?” you weren’t asking me. Well, I’ll tell you.

I’ve discussed this a bit with my wife who doesn’t think it’s necessary for me to curse on this blog. But I disagree. I’ve done some thinking and some ruminating and some considering and even some mulling over, and I’ve come to this conclusion: I’ve got to do it somewhere.

I can’t swear at home because I have a baby daughter and that’s the sort of thing that they hear and start broadcasting to the people around them and then someone gives you the evil eye and eventually calls someone to come take your kids away and then you sit there and say “Well, fuck,” and then you realize that that’s the exact sort of thing that got you into this situation in the first place. On the other side of it, if I don’t use it somewhere, it’s going to come out regardless and then I get wrapped up in the previous scenario.

All in all, these words a just that: words. The emotion and negativity attached to them does not come from the words themselves, it comes from us. Does that mean I want my little girl to walk up to random strangers saying, “Asshole?” Of course not. But what I understand is that there is little power that a word can hold unless we grant it that power.

Here’s where it stands: I will try my best to avoid swearing in front of my daughter, though from time to time it will likely slip out. I’ll spend the majority of my foul language credits online and not in person. In that way, my daughter will hopefully not start cursing out every person on the sidewalk. When she’s old enough to understand, we will likely tell her that there are certain words that certain people feel uncomfortable around or take offense to and so they shouldn’t be used in everyday conversation. We use them to express frustration and, so, try not to use them that often. Hopefully this will be successful. It worked for me.