Action Verbs

Home schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic finds parents teaching their children "action verbs." I don't recall a teacher making a distinction between action verbs and "is, was and were," but action verbs do represent a way to involve kids by asking them to demonstrate run, laugh, play, write and the like. Action verbs also demonstrate a difference between moving and standing still. They focus attention on what contributes to both personal and social health. Consider some action verbs: help, legislate, donate, vote, negotiate, celebrate, question. They all offer more promise than sitting, conforming and doing nothing. Action verbs lead to providing healthcare, feeding the hungry, sheltering refugees, employing the jobless, building roads, educating children, recyclinng plastic and mediating disputes. Of course, there also are negative action verbs: kill, riot, lynch, steal. And, depending on your side, other action verbs, such as protest, break and fight, can be good or bad. One thing is certain. Action verbs invite reactions. Everywhere in the world, they teach children, adults and countries to do something.