Actions Speak

Here are some words about action..

If someone wanted to know what is important in your life, all they need to do is follow you around and observe when you think nobody is looking.  You could figure out that I like riding a bike because I spend time every week riding.  

If someone followed Hottie they would see her volunteering at the greyhound rescue facility bringing some happiness to traumatized dogs in transition.

You would learn I love my family because I do things for them that you can observe (actions). Hottie and I do things for each other every day. We frequently have family over and we do stuff.  We take them places.  

We invite parents, children and grandchildren to go to the zoo, the park, dinner or just to come and hang out. We load them in our car and head off to a National Park or take them on vacations.  We bring them to bike races, fairs and pumpkin farms.  These are actions you can see. 

Back when I learned English using antiquated methods like constructing sentences; the definition that stuck in my head was that a verb was an “action” word.  It was something you could observe happening.  Unlike a noun, which was a person, place or thing; a verb “did” something.  A person ran, a place smelled and a rock rolled. The verbs were “ing” words.  Could you put “ing” at the end of the word? Running, smelling, rolling, etc..

Because love is a verb, you can’t have love without action.  Saying you love someone or something is nothing but hot air if you can’t point to ongoing actions that manifest your love. 

Listening is an action.  It meets the “ing” criteria. Listening shows caring which is part of love.

When someone says they are a bad listener what that generally means is they really aren’t that concerned about other people so they don’t really care what others might have to say.  They pretty much just care about themselves. Another measure is if they spend ninety percent of any “conversation” doing the talking.  A lot of people would label that as being selfish. They would be correct.

Some people have limitations, be they physical, emotional or financial that may impact the ways in which they can express love and caring.  Barring these limitations, if you love someone or something the true measure is action. 

They say actions speak louder than words.  I’m not sure who “They” are but at least in this case, they are right.  Actions or lack thereof, don’t just speak louder than words, they marginalize words.