Relationship and the Power of Words

A friend of mine changed her "status" on one of those social networking sites from "single" to "in a relationship" and then posted a brief comment about what she thought it meant to be "in a relationship;" in the general understanding of the description.

She essentially said that she didn't like the word because she felt it insinuated ownership of a person.

I disagree.

First, words only have the meanings we give them. For example, there was a time when being gay meant your were happy and having a "fag" meant smoking a cigarette.  The word "fat" has morphed into "phat" and being called "phat" is good thing; it depends on the sentence it's used in, right?  One can be a swinger in the sense of hip, club-hopping, coolness or one can be a swinger in the sex scene.  

Words mean nothing until we give them meaning.

Second, we are constantly "in relationship" with all we interact with. We have relationships with people, animals, and things; even concepts and theories. Relating and interacting creates relationships. I have a relationship with my keyboard as I type this. You have a relationship with my words as you read this. Why is it that as soon as we label a sweet and pleasant, sexual or romantic interaction between two people as "relationship" its innate definition changes?  One word - perception. And to be honest, perception is everything.

Words have power, but only that which we give them. We should be cautious of defining a word in a particular way because we then give it that power. If I say I'm in a relationship but think that the word insinuates ownership, then I'm very likely to begin feeling "owned." Yes? But if I say that I think that relationships are the fuel of personal growth; ALL relationships, then won't that create opportunity for growth? Everyone we relate to and with is fueling our experience in this consciousness. It is in our best interest to recognize the relationships we have with others so that we can continue to connect, relate, love, and grow.

Peace.