THE POWER OF WORDS

 

 

 

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This is where we bright (that's what we think of ourselves) and yet puny (that's the reality in the spiritual world) human beings fail in almost all of our relationships every time. Sad but true.
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I had a niece, smart pretty intelligent successful, who can talk you out of anything... with her words. The thing is she thinks herself to be so good that she swims in that hostile pool of ego and pride without even noticing it.
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One day, she came to me with a satisfied grin on her face.
Seeing it I remarked.. "That face gloats."
She replied... "She was saying the wrong things and I simply corrected her. She deserved it. "
"According to you."  I replied.
"Awww c'mon, tita, don't give me that."  she countered pouting.
"And why not?! Did it ever occur to you to wonder what your words did to her?"  I questioned.
"Yeah, I made her realize that she was wrong."  she answered.
"Did you ever stop to think that she could be hurt very bad, right there in the heart where most everything in life matters?"
"That's her problem."  she countered still gloating.
"On the contrary, it's yours. One more thing, it takes so little to be kind."  and I walked away leaving her with her own thoughts.
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The post below was done in October 2013 and I'm bringing it back here to be reminded of the importance of .... words. So that I may avoid falling into that same hideous pool my niece has fallen into. It helps to be reminded often, forgetful creatures that we are.
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Here it is.....
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The new parish priest of our community was celebrating his first mass and with a homily on the subject of  'the power of words'. To sum up, it was truly a good homily delivered in a uniquely light hearted sincere manner yet made such a huge dent on everybody's thoughts if you could gauge it from the attentive response of the people there.
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Made me think................
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WORDS. What do we know about it except to speak it, to communicate with, or to express our sentiments with. We often take it for granted. Like it's part of our physical body of eyes, ears, nose, extremities, and mouth. So no big deal.
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BUT it IS a big deal!
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Do we know what words can do? It can make or break, build or destroy, make happy or cause someone to be miserable. 'Make' 'Build' 'Happy' would be easy to understand. Its effect is almost always visible. It's a no-brainer.
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On the other hand, 'break' 'destroy' 'miserable' hits very deep. That's a place nobody can see. Can be very hard to understand.
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When someone says to us... 'I love you', I am sure that would quickly transport us up to the skies rocketing even higher. Everything to our minds come out rosy and every living creature lovable. Oh I know because just like you I've been there too.
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Now when somebody else says... 'I don't like you', I am sure that we would according to our personality type respond to that accordingly. Strong types would deliver a straight punch to that person's (very ugly) face ..... while weaker souls would simply walk away and yes wither away with all that hurt and pain sinking lower deep inside. And if some still don't know it, bullying makes that happen.
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I have learned.......
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Words may be simply a tool, one of many, of our existence but it is such a powerful one. We should care for it as much as a handyman usually cares for his pack of tools with love and careful attention. We should use it with care, too. Unlike a fool who lets loose a barrage of anger, hate, or meanness through a language which belittles, disparages, depreciates and totally cuts down to size its object deliberately down to the ground... obliterating it with great force. Sadly, we do that often to our... families, spouses, children, parents, friends, the elderly, employees, students, equals, and even to strangers.
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We have hurt a lot of people with those ugly words and also at many times have been hurt a lot by those same words.
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So then ......why don't we be extra careful in our choice of words, in how we speak them. We should not try in any way be the cause, for any kind of reason thought of as just or something, of anyone's misery or heartbreak deserving or not. If we must say something, choose how to say it. There's enough misery going around in our world to think of adding more to it. Mother Earth is hurting from all the negativity forced down upon her.... 'let's cut her trees down', 'let's throw our trash into the rivers', 'let's bring down the mountains and build a mega mall', etc. Action springs out from words. We did that to her, we're doing that to her. Unless we seriously try to curb old mean harsh habits of speech we shall be doing it to her repeatedly until, well, she explodes. And we shall explode along with her.
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Remember the allegory of the ... rock or boulder and on it a continuing fall of tiny drops of water --- drip - drip - drip..... through the years. And then one day to everyone's amazement a hole was punctured on what was once solid rock. That's what words do to anyone or anything it touches. Words can pierce the soul.
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Let us try to help ease that pain or better yet to whack off the negative vibes to pieces with a good concentrated dose of positivity. We can do that with WORDS! .Words carefully chosen have the power to restore joy, good, well-being, hope, courage, inspiration, strength, love, faith, and trust. These can help create a better place and world for us.
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That, by the way, is also by God's design. HE wants us to be responsible owners and givers of the gift of words.

Be blessed, everyone. God pours out bushels of blessings right there into your day.
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(Thanks to the internet for these inspiring images.)

JUDGE NOT SO YOU BE NOT JUDGED

I don't know who said this, wasn't mentioned in the email I received. But it's sure one good quote. What it says is this ----- "You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him."

Now as I understand it we are more inclined to listen to what people say about others and from there make our own judgment about that person. I used to, that was before I learned that people are not always correct in their judgements. That includes myself. No kidding abut that.

Until on this one particular day (in high school) when I found my big BIG lesson. This friend, let's call her Patty, was singing praises about her other friend -- speaking with such high adulation about Wendy's achievements, her sweet temperament, being smart, and etc etc etc. Added that I should meet her. Okay, I was curious now to meet this person who seemed to be after my job as best friend to Patty.

So we met. Pretty, big brown eyes, long black hair, fair skin. She would stick out in a crowd indeed. And we girls talked the usual 'girl talk'. Clothes, shoes, handbags, cute boys, brownies and ice cream, monster teachers. And I sat there and listened intently to her chatter. She knew the latest fashion trends, knew almost every high school boy worth knowing, and carried on a monologue on the worst teachers she met alongside some of the girls she considered boring - bland - stupid - geeky - ugly - lousy dressers - and weird.

Then it hit me hard like a huge rock to my head --- she wasn't the girl Patty so admired after all. What came out of her mouth belied the nice smart sweet person Patty praised so highly to me. She was pretty alright.... but her mind and heart was not!

When I got back home that day I thought about Wendy. If I may have in the past sounded like her spewing out negative jibes at people and things, then the people listening to me right there would have reacted towards me so much the same as I had reacted towards Wendy. Awful, isn't it?!!

Well, to cut a long story short, this one high school girl learned one big lesson out of school that day. Sometimes the best lessons can be found outside the classroom too without the help of books.