More Than Words

Call it a hazard of being a writer, but I'm always amazed that people can put so little stock in the importance of words. Words are amazing, yet so many people treat them with such flippancy. Really, though, if you think about it, words can change everything. 

They have the power to persuade, the power to hurt, the power to heal. The power to kill, and the power to give life. Whether spoken or written, words are essential to how we relate to one another, to how we connect. Maybe that's why I love them so much. They are truly a powerful thing, and I'm reminded of that on a daily basis as I boot up my computer to start my work day or crack the spine on a book.

What would life be like without words?

As one who makes a living from my ability to spin them together, I shudder to think. But even as a simple human being, I've often reflected on a world suddenly robbed of words–-one where they could not be spoken, heard, read, or written. It would be a lonely thing, I think. We would never really know someone else, would we? How could we fall in love or really feel anything about anyone or anything?Death of words would, I think, literally mean death. They're required for technology, for entertainment, for relationship. 

And still, they are so undervalued. Think about it, though, next time you're about to say something or write something. What do those words mean, and what will they cost you? How will they be received? Hold them in your mind's eye and measure them. 

Words are a powerful thing, a gift or a curse. 

Words are never just words. Be wordly wise.