Words

Words. Spoken, they have the power to calm, console and reassure. Alternatively, they have the ability to crush. Once words are liberated, the speaker often finds themself relieved, perhaps with a lessened burden. However, once spoken, words released can never be reclaimed.

The recipient of spoken words may feel pacified. Or tormented. Perhaps inadvertently. Perhaps not. Either way words can have an impact. Sometimes the words cause a temporary consequence or setback. But sometimes the words can create a repercussion that lingers eternally.

The speaker of those words may be satisfied that the words used were only meant to help the person. Or the purpose of the discourse was simply an honest conveyance of feelings they had held deep inside. A justifiable release. What they said was accurate. Necessary. Wasn’t it?

They were just words, weren’t they?

Decades ago, while reaching up high on a shelf, a box fell, landing painfully on my foot. Not a ritual swearer, I yelled out a word I seldom used. That four letter “s” word. Three times.

Hours later, in the midst of constructing a tower, my toddler watched as the blocks fell around him. He yelled out that same word. Three times.

Words. Just words. Right?

Written words possess similar super powers. Only they are even more potent. Spoken words can be lost in translation, not quite fully heard nor accurately remembered. But the written word is for forever, never ceasing to exist. The words remain, living in time and space in a permanent state.

Be careful what you write.

As an author, I try to be certain that the words I write are there to calm, console and reassure. While still telling a story. Sometimes the words may be at times too honest, too forthright. But they are chosen specifically to convey a message, to bring fiction to life and to create a world in which the characters exist.

Words are powerful. Hopefully we choose them wisely. Or, better yet, that we choose never to share irrevocable words.