Watch the words you use

Part of my mission in life is to eliminate negativity. Don't misunderstand that I believe that I will eliminate all negative situations. I just want to work on how we respond to them. We are getting caught up in overreactions and hyperbole, which increases our stress levels and reduces our enjoyment of life.

Here's an example: An article in AARP Bulletin (Vol. 49 No. 1, January-February 2008) on page 6 describes a law passed in Tennessee which prohibits residents from using commercial addresses for voter registrations. The problem with the law is that some retired residents maintain their residency in that state via a commercial address, but spend all their time traveling around the country in their RVs. So now they cannot vote. Several of them have brought a lawsuit against the state to get this changed--which is exactly what they need to do. As a voter, I have missed voting in only one election in my entire voting life--a local primary--and I definitely don't want anyone doing anything to get in anyone's way of exercising that right.

The issue I have is with a statement from one of the affected individuals, who is quoted as saying "I feel like we've been violated." While I strongly agree that the law has an undesirable side effect, this disenfranchisement of voters was most likely unintended. I don't feel that it rises to the level of them "being violated." Using that term to describe this situation is emotional hyperbole. This usage may seem a small matter, but it's an example of the way we use terminology in an exaggerated way. It actually trivializes the term "violated" and raises the level of noise and the feeling that everyone is a victim. I would rather we talk about intending to have the law changed due to the unintended consequences and stick to discussions about the reality of society. I imagine this scenario never occurred to the lawmakers, and I haven't checked any statistics, but my guess is that there are more full time RV'ers than 5 years ago, and the number is growing.

Stand up for your rights, but work on talking about it in an adult manner!