I have spent the greater part of the last few days thinking about the power of words.
When you think about it for any amount of time, you come to realize the true significance of the thing that makes up the bigger picture - the one thing we all share - the human language. For most words, when they sit alphabetically in a dictionary alone, there isn't much significance. Sure, there are a few that can stand on their own, but when the individual words are put together - well, that's where their true power lies.
When you think about the power of words there isn't one person alive that hasn't felt their thrust. You remember that words do indeed hurt more than sticks and stones when you are the middle school kid bullied on the playground, taunted by someone claiming their superiority. You trust the kindness of words when a friend or family member tells you how they have missed you. You feel the butterflies that come along with the admission of love for the first time. You can't forget the pain you feel when you disappoint someone or when someone says something that disappoints you. You are transported to the past through the songs that tell the story of your life, the ones you can still sing and feel exactly as you did in the years before.
They can say so much.
Everyday, words are the most important choice we make. They can change everything in a second. They can make you change course, direct your future, or make you relive your past. They can make you smile. They can make you laugh so hard your sides split. They can make time stand still. They can lift you up and make you believe in yourself. They can make it better. They can make it worse. They can crush you without warning. They are the only things you can never take back.
They can tell you everything you need to know.
The perfect formulation of words is what we as humans spend a large majority of our subconsious time consumed with. Just as I am laboring over the writing of this entry, I do the same when crafting a communication at work. I look for the just right combination so to most effectively convey my true meaning. I sometimes craft conversations to other people in my head before I am able to speak the words outloud. I freely admit that I spend most of my life analyzing the meaning behind the words of others. There must be a billion different combinations out there. Surely, there must be one perfect sentence for every situation.
I wish I had a handbook...
A handbook for others to know the right and wrong words to say. I could distribute my handbook to those who know me - whether by birthright, friendship, employment, acquaintance, or by some other chance. My handbook would contain only the acceptable words and combinations of words for use on me. It would be a handbook of only words of love, encouragement, answers to questions, and constructive criticism. The words would answer my questions when I had them, teach me when I needed to learn, and unpatrionizingly tell me when I was wrong.
I wish everyone else had one, too. A dictionary. A theasauraus. And a beginner's handbook of knowing the right / wrong things to say.
In my next life I'm coming back with thicker skin.
(Oh, and also a smaller nose and ass, too).
3 comments:
very true natie. If more people at a younger age knew the power of words it would be a better world. what sparked this thought?
Great post. I am obsessed with words. I read the dictionary for fun and know that the most insigificant degree of difference between two similar words can result in a world of meaning. I spend hours thinking about things I've written, things other people have said, things I -want- to say.
Sometimes I wonder "Why did they say that? Why did they use that word?"
I am so pissed I didn't take Latin in school because that would help me understand words even more.
Kate-
I took Latin....it was the worst two years of my life...there's a reason why it's a dead language.
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