When I was a kid we used to chant: “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” Looking back, I realize how wrong we were, and now inept that common childhood chant really is.<\/p>\n
Words can hurt. Words are the most powerful things on this planet; and I have no doubt words are the most powerful things in the universe next to the primordial powers that keep the planets spinning around their suns, the galaxies whirling gracefully around some mysterious universal pole, and not least, us from flying off into space. But of things human, words are, without doubt the most powerful things we will ever know.<\/p>\n
And each of us have words at our command, to use for good, or for bad.<\/p>\n
Someone’s words launched the attack on the World Trade Center towers. Words launched the many wars in the violent history of humanity that have, by now, killed millions and affected millions more – and left families devastated, and beautiful landscapes scorched and smoldering.<\/p>\n
Words launched our greatest religions. Words have enslaved millions of people and words then justified this immorality so that slavery continued on and on until it was finally abolished less than 150 years ago in my country.In some contries, it continues still.<\/p>\n
Words can twist our thoughts and incite hate and justify even the most heinous human activities; words can make the most pernicious things, acceptable. Words have kept women from voting, minorities from enjoying the benefits of freedom, children from reaching their potential; words can hurt, words can kill, words can punish — but words can heal as well.<\/p>\n
Words can begin friendships, words can set entire civilizations free. Words can soothe a broken heart, words can inspire a child to become the inventor of new medicines that can cure the diseases which to this day still ravage and kill without regard to social status, country of origin, religion, gender, or color of skin. Words can begin marriages that last decades and produce beautiful families – children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren that become the focus of our lives.<\/p>\n
Words can make or break a day, a friendship, a town, a city, a state, or country.<\/p>\n
Most of us don’t give a lot of thought to the words we use every day. We go about our business and concern ourselves with minutiae, and silly unimportant things we think matter, but really don’t. We throw words around carelessly and if we are too careless we can hurt others.<\/p>\n
As few as twenty years ago the reach of our words were mostly limited to those around us, But today our words can be transmitted around the world in less than a second and read by one, or dozens, or hundreds, or thousands or even millions. It’s so easy in this instant age to hurt others with our words. It’s always been easy to be careless with our words, but technology has enabled us to launch hateful or hurtful words around the world in seconds. And we, somehow, like to believe our relative anonymity shields us from blame and more importantly from being hurt by someone’s words. But the words we speak or the words we write can break a heart or incite terrible hatred. Words have become more powerful than ever with the evolution of instant communication.<\/p>\n
The thunder of missiles and the devastation unleashed by humanity’s most fearsome weapons pale in comparison to the power of words.<\/p>\n
Words are the alpha and the omega: the beginning and the end. They can bring joy when beautiful new baby is born and tear a heart apart when they bring news of the unexpected passing of a loved one. Words can light the world; words can turn the world into a burned cinder.<\/p>\n
Be careful of the words you use. Choose them carefully and thoughtfully. Touch people with your words, but touch them gently. Make someone feel better today. Tell someone you love, how much you love them. Tell your partner, your friends, your children, anyone who is close to you, how important they are to you. Words are more powerful than you know.<\/p>\n
It’s only words, but words are the most powerful things in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I was a kid we used to chant: “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” Looking back, I realize how wrong we were, and now inept that common childhood chant really is. Words can hurt. Words are the most powerful things on this planet; and I have no doubt words are\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[228],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5602"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5602"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5603,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5602\/revisions\/5603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}