"Word"

Years ago A number of good people took classes with me using email. A popular class was called "Word."  You may be old enough to remember the "It Pays to Increase Your Word Power" feature in the magazine Readers Digest. "Word" was a just a bit like that feature. "Word" was about definition, meaning, mind, understanding, power, and the like.

The sixty or so students interested in "Word" were of a variety of backgrounds and ages. Ages ranged from the early twenties to the  late seventies with a couple of outliers.

'Love' was a popular word among nearly all of  students. Those email lessons were not love letters, but they were sent with the aim of respectfully nurturing their readers.

Recently while thinning my archives I looked at a transcript of a "Word" lesson that was largely my response to  student responses to an earlier 'love' "Word."

I had been please by enthusiastic student response. Nearly every response mentioned feelings, but nit one mentioned emotions! There was a wide variety of takes on those feelings and their relevance. Most students agreed that there were two or more kinds of love. Words used often were: I, ego, personal, help, action, and sex. No one mentioned drugs or rock and roll. Neither did anyone mention dominance, submission, nurturence, lust, fear, God, mother, child, wife, husband, or country! Go figure. They did mention pleasure and pleasant, but not joy. I remember that nearly every one noted kinds of love without being specific, Some mentioned parts of love with out being specifying any one part. No one mentioned Christ, Jesus or the Bible. All this may say more about student attitude toward email and me than anything else.

I mention these happenings with the thought that I may post on words in the future. 'Agape' may be among those words. Any other suggestions.