Words… words are very powerful. It can make and break hearts. It can hurt and heal.
I have shared a lot of times that my son has an extremely overactive imagination. He has a parallel world in his imagination and the other day when he talked about Corona in his world, I suggested keeping illness out of his parallel world. Why bring illness and sadness into an imaginary world right? He immediately said, “that’s a great idea mom!” Then thinking hard and putting his imagination to work, he said, “Ooh.. There is one more thing we can’t do in our parallel world..” Intrigued, I asked him what’s that. He said, “We can’t talk! So nobody can argue with anyone.”
I was dumbfounded. This ten year old kid said something so easily that we adults, with a complex vocabulary, can’t! I think it’s our ability to play with words that make our life so complex.
There’s one of my most favorite quotes that’s apt here:
"Between what is said and not meant, And what is meant and not said, Most love is lost". - Kahlil Gibran
Words have a strange ability, like Karma, it hits us back like a boomerang. I have often noticed, anything nasty I said earlier, hits me back like a slap across the face later. Similarly something nice I have said earlier comes back to me in some form and puts a smile on my face.
Words are a boon for some while some prefer steering away from it. I have a tendency to blurt out and say everything when I’m angry or sad. While my husband is a man of few words and prefers to stay silent when in anger. It works for both of us. To each its own right?
What if we didn’t have words to express our feelings of happiness, anger or despair? Would the world really be more wonderful? Would there be more peace and harmony or would there be more chaos?
I sure don’t know. I’m drawing a blank here!
I know it’s my words that started out my relationship with my husband. But it’s also words that end us hurting each other in an argument! This is the case in every relationship. We don’t use up enough words to convey our love and appreciation and we use up more than required to convey our displeasure.
I tell my son that I love him multiple times each day. Sometimes he responds with a blank toned “I love you too”, sometimes he hugs me tight and says “I love you too Amma” and sometimes he responds irritatedly “I know Amma!” Well, I’m just happy that when I’m gone, depending on his mood then, he definitely will remember me for this, right?
Words empower us and it’s up to us to decide whether we want to use it to empower others too or destroy them. Like guns are to wars, words are to humans. If not used for the right purpose and right reasons, it can be catastrophic!
We need to choose our words carefully and spend our words wisely. I have learnt this lesson hard a number of times.
Two words I tell my son to always use are “sorry” and “thank you”. It’s never shameful to accept your mistakes and apologize and it’s humbling to appreciate others for what they do.
While writing this blog, I have a song playing in my head, “Words” by Bee Gees
And I think that is what I’ll end with.. “It’s only words and words are all I have to take your heart away!