I happened across this word the other day.
I hadn’t thought about it in a long time.
Boondoggle.
It seems to me the definition should look something like an old red hound dog lying on some backwater, dilapidated, old porch, sleeping the day away.
Yet. That is not a boondoggle at all.
Instead, it is this.
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boondoggle
noun | BOON-dah-gul
What It Means
A boondoggle is a wasteful or impractical project or activity that usually involves public money or labor.
Boondoggle is also a word for a braided cord worn by Boy Scouts as a neckerchief slide, hatband, or ornament.
In a sentence:
“Critics say the dam is a complete boondoggle—over budget, behind schedule, and unnecessary.”
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So there it is. Something that is a complete waste.
Or. Some braided gold cord on a kid’s Boy Scout uniform.
Sometimes our words are strange.
It should be an old dog on an old porch somewhere.
But this is a reminder to me about life.
There are times when we hear something, see something, or come to find out about something. It could be anything. From a political matter to a community scandal to the active ingredients in Alka Seltzer. Just anything.
And for whatever reason, we don’t get the whole story. Or perhaps, what we hear causes us to form our own “visions” of the thing in front of us.
Yet. If we really care about finding the truth in life’s matters, then we become responsible enough to seek out the real definition. We search for the actual meaning, even if it does not line up with our own perceptions and meanings.
We should always remember. It is a big world out there.
We can’t possible know it all.
So we try to learn.
The truth.
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“It is what we know already that often prevents us from learning.”
– Claude Bernard
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“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”
– Confucius
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“All learning has an emotional base.” – Plato
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Boondoggle, I tell you. Woof.
