IMPELLERE

During a recent conversation where a mutual acquaintance's name came up, the word "impulsive" was used to describe that person's character. Having a deeper knowledge of the person being discussed, the use of the word "impulsive"  took me aback. When we hear the word "impulsive" we assume deficit, perhaps in maturity or responsibility or consideration for others. We are quite certain we are about to hear a tale of a shortcoming and I was happy to seize that opportunity to share my perception of my friend's strengths.

The conversation made me curious enough about the word "impulsive" (I love words and my friends) to  look it up and I discovered that it comes from the Medieval Latin word "impellere" meaning to drive, to persuade or to impel.  I can imagine having these innate qualities would have come in very handy during Medieval times. They would have increased one's chances of survival and certainly the longer one survives, the greater the chance of their reproducing. So a natural consequence, of course, is that the impellere traits (dare I say abilities) continue to be passed on, a sort of genetic inheritance.

So perhaps there are those amongst us that are impellere, those that have the natural born abilities to motivate and shepherd, to affect and move, to arouse and stir .

Shortcomings or Strong points? I guess that's in the eye of the beholder.