A Few Words On Words

What an amazing gift it is to be able to communicate with one another.
Few things in this world have the power of words.
Few things are abused more than words.
Words can be beautiful, inspiring, encouraging and even life changing.
They also can be ugly, hurtful and destructive.

I’ve been thinking about how words affect me. Sure, I want to have my ego massaged with kind complimentary words. I desire to hear the sweet word of appreciation and let it fill my soul. One of the most satisfying feelings that has ever encompassed me is hearing the voice of one of my children say my name (Dad or when they were younger Daddy) and make a request that only their father can deliver. Nothing soothes my soul more than hearing my wife lovingly purr my first and middle name like only she can. To be frank, no one else really purrs my name or calls me by my first and middle name, but that’s not the point. Actually, I kind of like hearing my name spoken aloud period.

What I don’t like is the havoc negative words play on my psyche. Certain words hit my ears and my body seems to react on it’s own. It depends on the context and on the person delivering the words but they are just words and they attack me on many levels. Even foolish words delivered from an ill-informed mouth can transform my stomach into an acid making machine.

What I do like is words that make me laugh. It’s funny how they same words that can make me crazy can make me laugh. Some words that should make me crazy make me laugh. Then again some words that make me laugh should make me crazy. One of my all time favorite conversation with a former co-worker ended with her saying, “Get away from me you weirdo!” I laughed so hard. In my wife’s review of my first blog, she said, “Oh yeah I read it. I thought it was going to be more entertaining”. I loved that!

Words in the 21st century are different. An ever increasing amount of our contemporary communication comes in brief text and twitter size snippets. Sometimes 140 characters is more than enough but the real meanings behind those words are often lost. Subtle nuisances of the spoken word is often lost in the online social network world we live. Sarcasm and irony are often misunderstood for insult, meanness and rudeness. It’s hard to bite your tongue when the send button is only a mouse click away.

Words are what Jesus used to change the world. Words were Shakespeare’s tool. They were also the weapons of villains of history.

Words are really all we have to rely what we feel, what’s on our minds and what’s in our hearts. I am going to attempt to choose my words more carefully(except on my blog) and carefully choose how words affect me.

I’ll let you know how that goes.