Blog 3802 – 04. 20. 2026

A Kind and Encouraging Word

What seems most lacking in the conversation, the both public and private discourse, these days is a kind and encouraging word. Some eleven years ago when I was thinking about a name for my daily blog I thought of a line in a favorite cowboy song that I hear as a child watching westerns. In the song Home On the Range are the words, “Where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day.”

When I applied for a domain at Word Press, theencouragingword.com was already taken by a South Carolina pastor so I opted for theencouragingword.co that was still available. I was asked to include a short quote that would give potential readers an idea of what the theme of my blog would be and so I paraphrased the line from the song: “Where often is heard an encouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day.”

These days when the clouds of war seem to all but block out the sun and the words that dominate the news cycle are often disturbing and discouraging, we are many of us hungry to hear an encouraging word. Two of our last two term Democratic Presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama used an encouraging word in their campaigns – Hope.

One of my favorite movies, that I watch again and again, is The American President staring Michael Douglas and Annette Bening and directed by Rob Reiner. There is a Senator in the movie played by actor Richard Dreyfuss called Bob Rumsfied. The Rumsfeld character is running against Michael Douglas’s character as he is trying to win a second term. Bob’s campaign is a smear and fear campaign full of disparaging, disturbing, and discouraging words.Sadly, that is the kind of campaign that too often wins the most votes.

I hope we as a people finally realize this political ploy is not to our benefit and return to a more hopeful outlook. Instead of Making America Great Again and the belief that the nineteen fifties was some “golden age” it wasn’t we should realize that these are the good old days and make the best of them by thinking encouraging thoughts, speaking encouraging words, and trying to see the best in others and striving to be the change we want to see in the world.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David James White