Words To Live By

I love words. I love what they can do and the emotions they evoke. I especially love that I can string them together to create.

It's hard to say if most people give much thought to words. We should. They are part of our everyday lives. We use them to communicate, create, and learn.

Think about it for a minute. Has your heart ever skipped a beat when someone you had your eye on (and who had their eye on you) said hello? The words that followed let you know if you should have stopped at hello and kept walking or if you wanted to exchange many more words with that person.

Words have the power to reduce a person to tears or lift them into the clouds. That's why it's so important to choose our words carefully. Don't believe me?

Look at how easily we have come to accept the word "bitch". There was a time when the mere utterance the word would result in shock, dismay, and maybe a fight. Today, calling someone a bitch is almost a term of endearment. Some people even aspire to bitchdom (yes, I made that word up). Don't even get me started on ratchet. Why is that even a word?

Words have such a powerful affect on our lives that I have to wonder if our collective ability to use and choose our words has caused some serious damage to those we are supposed to love, protect, and nurture.

We all remember the mantra - It takes a village to raise a child. With the explosion of violence in our communities, I'm wondering if we have failed as a village.

What would happen if instead of beating children down with hateful words like bad, dumb, stupid, ignorant, no good, and lazy, we shower them with words like brilliant, terrific, special, beautiful, smart? Would any of this make a difference? Can we speak life, health, and happiness with our words? I believe so.

We all have words to live by. How are you using yours?