Never say never. That saying always bugged me. Yet, people
feel compelled to quote it —a lot. I know what they are trying to say, that you
shouldn’t make claims which might not be accurate in the future because no one
really knows what the future holds—that is true. Others use the saying to assert
there are no absolutes in this world. That is absolutely not true. But either
way, the saying itself is contradictory, so it can’t be used as a truism of any
sort. Besides, there are definitely some things that I can unequivocally state
that have never, and will never, happen.
I’ve never had a maiden name. Never will. I’ve never been
pregnant and never will be. I will never be a kid again. I’ll never know what
an elephant is thinking. And I’ll never forget how many grains of sand are in
the world because I’ll never know.
Admittedly, the preceding list is probably not things to
which the saying refers. None of them are even a possibility. Still, there are
other things that technically could happen but I’m certain will not: I’ll never
visit China, or the moon. I’ll never live in a space capsule. I’ll never be
elected President—because I’ll never run. I’ll never jump out of a perfectly
good airplane, never bungee jump just for the fun of it, and I’ll never win the
gold medal in anything at the Olympics.
The point is there are plenty of instances where saying
never is entirely appropriate and acceptable. So, ‘never say never’ is a saying
I never use. Usually anyway. I realize I’ve used it twice in this post.
I was running all of this by my four-year-old grandson
earlier today, and he thoughtfully offered another enlightening observation;
“And you’ll never be a millionaire.” I told him he was right. Probably. But
then, you never know. ~
Bruce
A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey,
Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS
and
paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. Bruce A. Borders
is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.
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