~ WORDS ~
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"Handle them carefully ...
for words have more power than atom bombs."
Pearl Strachan Hurd
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A friend wrote to me tonight about the
"healing power of words" I began to
think about that and she was
right. Words can truly heal. I thought
back to times in my life when the right
word at the right time by the right
person made an enormous difference in my
life. I also thought of the times when
words devastated me.
Many times I get busy and don't think
about what I'm going to say and words
come out and in my "busyness" of the
moment, I don't realize they could have
a double meaning. It is afterwards
... many times days afterwards .... that
I realize my choice of words were
inappropriate. We speak and listen to
tens of millions of words in our
lifetime and, perhaps, we need to weigh
the words we use more carefully. I hope,
however, that I don't ever find myself
saying words to others I don't mean or
out of fear restrict words that need to
be said.
Although this British politician of the
1930s, Pearl Strachan Hurd, said that
words have more power than atom bombs,
there is something that I find even more
powerful. Silence. Silence when there
should be words can hurt. Silence when
someone should have the courage to speak
harms. I tend to think of silence as the
ultimate insult. And yet some of the
most beautiful words ever spoken to me
were the silent ones.
ONE DAY AT A TIME . . .
let me choose my words carefully but not so carefully that I become calous. Let me use words to heal and not hurt; to make things better and not worse; to express feelings, even negative feelings to and about others, kindly ... courageously ... carefully.