Reflections 10/31/2020: I have never heard this term before… “contronym.” A word that, depending on the circumstance, can actually have the exact opposite meaning! I guess I’ve stumbled upon these contronyms before, confused with how to apply them in their particular sentence, but didn’t realize there was actually a category for them. As I think about this, it kinda captures the confusion (and resulting animosity) of our present society. Words mean totally different things to different groups of people! Example? Patriotism: a positive love of one’s own country, or a negative nationalism that is actually dangerous. Our very conflicting lenses cause us to perceive the same word, (or event) in exactly opposite ways! Our whole culture is being built on a minefield of explosive contronyms! Even concrete facts don’t yield concrete conclusions! We all run those facts through our socio-political grids, coming out with the exact opposite meanings! Perhaps recognizing these contronyms (in specific words or larger concepts) might help us not become so inflamed by their seemingly wrong usage. And enable us to understand why the opposite interpretation has merit too. God, quiet my reactionary mind so I am able to do this… and most of all not slap malicious motives on those who interpret things differently than me. They are wanting the best for our country too… they just are taking a different route to try and get there. We can’t eliminate contronyms, but we can at least recognize that there might be more than one meaning in how we interpret them!