Thank you for this impactful essay. It's helping me be kinder to myself and helping me empathize with others who struggle with saying what you mean. It's helping me empathize more with my ex and others I love dearly. I will say though, your essay has an ableist word in it. So please do the work to unpack that, maybe in a future essay. As a disability justice advocate who works with neurodivergent children, I truly care about planting seeds.
I feel frustrated using the word 'lame' in your essay was not on your radar. That frustration is mostly with our world overall and not you. So it's ok, since change must come out of desire. I too used it in this way. I truly hope you don't see this as an attack. Using the word ‘lame,’ in the context of being bad is very ableist. You must call it out when others use it, and so too must you consider people's feelings before using that word. If you look in the dictionary, it is defined in multiple ways, one in the way you use it in your writing. However our societies more often use it in this context, rather than its medical origin as a diagnosis for someone who cannot walk or needs tools to walk.
Here's more info on why this is not a great use of the word we must all stop using in this context. I truly hope you can see this is coming from a place of love. And I am open to a dialogue if you want to discuss it further. Please don't stop writing. You're lovely!
I really appreciate your sincerity and courage in writing this down. There are so many lessons here for me to take and apply. I hope to become more sincere and authentic.
Thank you for this impactful essay. It's helping me be kinder to myself and helping me empathize with others who struggle with saying what you mean. It's helping me empathize more with my ex and others I love dearly. I will say though, your essay has an ableist word in it. So please do the work to unpack that, maybe in a future essay. As a disability justice advocate who works with neurodivergent children, I truly care about planting seeds.
I feel frustrated using the word 'lame' in your essay was not on your radar. That frustration is mostly with our world overall and not you. So it's ok, since change must come out of desire. I too used it in this way. I truly hope you don't see this as an attack. Using the word ‘lame,’ in the context of being bad is very ableist. You must call it out when others use it, and so too must you consider people's feelings before using that word. If you look in the dictionary, it is defined in multiple ways, one in the way you use it in your writing. However our societies more often use it in this context, rather than its medical origin as a diagnosis for someone who cannot walk or needs tools to walk.
Here's more info on why this is not a great use of the word we must all stop using in this context. I truly hope you can see this is coming from a place of love. And I am open to a dialogue if you want to discuss it further. Please don't stop writing. You're lovely!
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210330-the-harmful-ableist-language-you-unknowingly-use
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lame
https://hbr.org/2020/12/why-you-need-to-stop-using-these-words-and-phrases
Watch "Crazy People" especially the scene with the ad execs desperately struggling to say one true sentence.
I really appreciate your sincerity and courage in writing this down. There are so many lessons here for me to take and apply. I hope to become more sincere and authentic.
Overall, thank you for writing this Ammar.