I want to be an ‘ism’

44 Replies

My posts of the last few weeks have been relatively heavy. And I wanted something different. Our world is in chaos, there is hatred and misunderstanding rampant in our cities and streets. People are confused and frightened and unsure. It is not a great recipe for humour.  So, I went out on the street looking for some. What I saw was people adhering to social distancing and many wearing masks. Very few would catch my eye.  A few did nod but there was no smile in their eyes and they turned away quickly. I have not walked the streets in 15 months and I am saddened. So, I decided to do what any self-respecting writer would and reuse something I have written earlier.

I was in a particularly silly mood when I wrote this in 2015 and I will admit it still touches my funny bone. I hope it does yours. May I share with you:

I want to be an ‘ism’

Think about it. ‘Isms’ have thousands if not millions who believe in them.  Everyone knows at least a couple of witticisms. Some people believe them so much they live their lives according to their wisdom. Volunteerism is regarded throughout the world as one of the better things human beings do. Millions of people love ventriloquism and so many are very much into vegetarianism.

There is tourism and synergism, survivalism and cannibalism.  Oh, wait, not that one!  Here’s a good one:   heroism! Yes, that’s better. Whew! How about absurdism or activism? Altruism and realism. Yes, I want to be an ‘ism’.  My daily quips could become Qu-isms! Isn’t that kind of cool? Cosmopolitanism or Cubism, eroticism, antidisestablishmentarianism. Now that’s a mouthful!

While I was wandering around looking up ideas for ‘ism’  I discovered that there are a lot of fun silly words that use that suffix. I also discovered some heinous, horrible words. Like plagiarism or narcissism or racism and terrorism. These are definitely words I do not want to have any contact with. As horrible as these issues are, we must never dismiss them. They are part of our everyday lives. We must work within ourselves and in our communities to eradicate the negative isms. But that doesn’t mean we have to stop having a little fun. So, I still think I want to be an ‘ism’.  Wouldn’t you?

 

 

44 thoughts on “I want to be an ‘ism’”

  5. Murphy's Law

    So I’m sitting here with my rheumatism wondering if a well-written piece of journalism could eradicate alcoholism, chauvinism, barbarism and snobbism. But I guess that would be an absurdism. Perhaps
    I need a baptism into hoodooism in order to see things from my own prism! We need some sillyisms!!
    Ginger

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply ↓
  13. Sorryless

    Your optimism precedes you, Pam. I think -ism’s have gotten a bad rap, which I blame on all the cynicism in the world. But to want to find the best and most positive -isms and to live by them?

    That’s a truism right there.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.