This is from one of our tutors personal blog thatcollegelife. This is her most recent blog post.
Just think of that word: radical. What do you think of? A few radicals going loose on the town: burning buildings, breaking into houses, things like that? Whatever you thought of, it is more likely than not to have been something negative. Why does that word have to have negative connotations? Why can’t that word be something positive? Because that is what society has told us. Certain words have to mean one thing or another, they can’t be both. Like the word “gay.” If you were to hear that word like 20-ish years ago it would’ve meant something different than now. In fact, if you look it up in the Merriam Webster dictionary online here is what you’ll find:
Simple Definition of gay
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: sexually attracted to someone who is the same sex
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: of, relating to, or used by homosexuals
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: happy and excited : cheerful and lively
Gay used to be played in songs (like “Deck the Halls”) but now we live in such a numb and desensitized society that artists will talk about sex and other worldly things and we don’t even blink. But the minute that the Supreme Court deems it legal for people of the same sex to get married we, as Christians, throw a fit. But I am not going to go down that rabbit trail because that isn’t what I intended for tonight.
Anyways, radical.
I am only 20 years old but I have had some radical moments in my life. Some people may say that I have the definition of what radical is wrong. Well here it is you haters:
Simple Definition of radical
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: very new and different from what is traditional or ordinary
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: very basic and important
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: having extreme political or social views that are not shared by most people
When thinking of that word people think of the last definition, but that isn’t the whole truth of the word. It can be “very basic and important” as said by Merriam Webster. My radical decisions are things that I may not have guessed would happen for myself. For instance, I decided to become a writing tutor. I figured it would happen, but I couldn’t have guessed it would happen so formerly (in an actual writing center.) I also have a boyfriend. Growing up that was just a long lost dream. I also applied to become a National Society of Leadership and Success Success Network Team Coordinator and now I am.
Yes. You can be young and a radical without any sort of negative connotation at all. End of story.