Richardcyoung.com

  • Home
  • Debbie Young
  • Jimmy Buffett
  • Key West
  • Your Survival Guy
  • How We Are Different
  • Paris
  • About Us
    • Foundation Principles
    • Contributors
  • Investing
    • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
  • The Swiss Way
  • My Rifles
  • Dividends and Compounding
  • Your Security
  • Dick Young
  • Dick’s R&B Top 100
  • Liberty & Freedom Map
  • Bank Credit & Money
  • Your Survival Guy’s Super States
  • NNT & Cholesterol
  • Your Health
  • Ron Paul
  • US Treasury Yield Curve: My Favorite Investor Tool
  • Anti-Gun Control
  • Anti-Digital Currency
  • Joel Salatin & Alfie Oakes
  • World Gold Mine Production
  • Fidelity & Wellington Since 1971
  • Hillsdale College
  • Babson College
  • Contact Us

The Power of Words

January 26, 2023 By Debbie Young

By Ground Picture @ Shutterstock.com

When a Simple “I’m Sorry” Works

Recently a WSJ writer lost both her parents. Megan Cox Gurdon, an author, is an only child who now finds herself an orphan in midlife. With her parents’ deaths, also gone are her childhood memories and “the remembered archives” of her parents’ marriage,” she mourns.

Until my parents died, I had no idea how welcome simplicity can be. A statement such as “Our hearts are with you” doesn’t feel canned when your heart is aching. It feels like consolation. Traditional condolences convey that the thing that’s happened is so profound that novelty is beside the point. In their accessibility, the standard phrases acknowledge the universality of loss. And, given their formulaic nature, they make possible a simple and painless response.

“Thank you, I really appreciate that,” I’ve said countless times these past weeks. And you know what? I’ve meant it every time. I really have appreciated the expression of fellow feeling. I really have appreciated people’s use of a compassionate shorthand that lets them off having to say something original and lets me off having to talk about how I’m feeling or to go into detail about how it all came about.

As a conservative, writes MCG, she should have known better.

It has taken many generations to refine the words of bereavement to an elegant sufficiency. I now understand that there’s no need to come up with a custom-designed remark when someone dies.

What sounds like a platitude will do nicely.

If you’re willing to fight for Main Street America, click here to sign up for the Richardcyoung.com free weekly email.

Related Posts

  • Angry Words
  • Power Wars
  • VIDEO: Arrogance of Power, Abuse of Power to the Nth Degree
  • Iran a Nuclear Power?
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Debbie Young
Debbie Young
Debbie, our chief political writer of Richardcyoung.com, is also our chief domestic affairs writer, a contributing writer on Eastern Europe and Paris and Burgundy, France. She has been associate editor of Dick Young’s investment strategy reports for over five decades. Debbie lives in Key West, Florida, and Newport, Rhode Island, and travels extensively in Paris and Burgundy, France, cooking on her AGA Cooker, driving through Vermont and Maine, and practicing yoga. Debbie has completed the 200-hour Krama Yoga teacher training program taught by Master Instructor Ruslan Kleytman. Debbie is a strong supporting member of the NRA.
Debbie Young
Latest posts by Debbie Young (see all)
  • Allowing Free People to Make a Democratic Choice - June 20, 2025
  • Political Theater on Display: Padilla’s Wild Day - June 20, 2025
  • A Great Victory for Liberty - June 19, 2025

Dick Young’s Must Reads

  • Who Wants to Depopulate the Earth?
  • The Case for Individual Stocks: Now More than Ever
  • The Forgotten America
  • Warning! Your Survival Guy’s on a Boil Water Advisory
  • Life: When Others Resent You for Your Success
  • You Need to Seek Some Shelter for When Things Get Ugly
  • We’ll Burn the Place Down!
  • The Butterfly Effect and Chaotic Markets
  • Who Owns Your Assets?
  • Are You Looking for Investment Counsel? 2 Questions

Our Most Popular Posts

  • The Night of the Living Dead
  • TRUMP: "Everyone Should Immediately Evacuate Tehran!"
  • Are You Familiar with the EF and Arithmetic?
  • A Classic Issue from Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report
  • Political Theater on Display: Padilla's Wild Day
  • A Nationwide Day of Defiance
  • Best Bang for Your Buck: Top 5 AR-15s of 2025
  • Epic Man Cave with Car Elevator in Utah
  • Israelis Speculate on American Involvement in War with Iran
  • GBU-57/B: Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP)

Compensation was paid to utilize rankings. Click here to read full disclosure.

RSS Youngresearch.com

  • Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report from Feb. 1987
  • America’s Energy Boom: Record Net Exports and Rising Renewables
  • Senate Passes First U.S. Stablecoin Regulation Bill
  • Game-Changing Vision: Meta and Oakley Unveil AI Performance Eyewear
  • A Great Victory for Liberty
  • Letchworth: Are You Living Your Best Retirement Life?
  • Job Openings Rise in Four States, National Rate Steady
  • Ethane Shipments Stall as U.S.-China Trade Tensions Rise
  • Historic Tax Cuts Across All States
  • Are You Familiar with the EF and Arithmetic?

RSS Yoursurvivalguy.com

  • Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report from Feb. 1987
  • Private Equity Is the Next Big Thing Coming for YOU
  • The Wildlife in Kansas
  • PRECIOUS: Silver and Gold
  • June Rage Gauge: Best Déjeuners in Paris
  • Letchworth: Are You Living Your Best Retirement Life?
  • Will SALT Kill the “One Big Beautiful Bill?”
  • You’ve Read the Last Issue of Intelligence Report: Back to Investor’s Yield
  • The Sound of Silence?
  • Are You Familiar with the EF and Arithmetic?

US Treasury Yield Curve: My Favorite Investor Tool

My Key West Garden Office

Your Retirement Life: Traveling the Efficient Frontier

Live a Long Life

Your Survival Guy’s Mt. Rushmore of Investing Legends

“Then One Day the Grandfather was Gone”

Copyright © 2025 | Terms & Conditions | About Us | Dick Young | Archives