Words--Part One

The readings for this coming Sunday invite reflection about the blessing and responsiblity of human speech. Although we know that many other creatures can communicate with variety and meaning, we humans have the most highly developed "member" that forms clear and precise words.

Have you ever been around somebody who tends to speak without thinking? Most of us have. Most of us have done so ourselves.

Words come out of our mouths for all sorts of reasons and from a range of sources. Sometimes they communicate our deepest and most sincere thoughts. They are offered with care, with an intention to stimulate something resonating with meaning. The words are withheld for a while, viewed and reviewed, tried out on paper...wordsmithed. The speaker has some understanding and perhaps a significant hope, that the listener(s) will receive a message that enhances or clarifies understanding in a lasting way.

There are other times when words are generated by emotions, adrenaline, or nervous energy. There may be outbursts of joy, or awe, sheer delight, uncontainable mirth. The scene sparkles for a while...laughter, tears, maybe even some back slapping may emerge. There is the fellowship of a shared experience, but it's not necessarily centered upon anything that will have significance over time.

Truth be told, I have a colleague who can always tell when I am nervous about a situation when I become a chatty cathy. My typically more thoughtful style of speech begins to run on quickly with a flow of words that don't necessarily have a whole lot of substance or meaning...the words do no harm...but they haven't accomplished anything, really, other than informing the listener that "Pamela must be feeling awkward."

Then, there are the worst case scenarios. The speaker pours out a slew of words that are charged with visceral emotions. There is no thought about a greater or enduring good. The words are volatile...reactive...and they pierce the hope for peace and harmony. But that doesn't mean that the words are confined to their particular moment in time. Their impact can spill over into other places and people, sometimes with a toxicity that increases exponentially. It can take years, even generations to heal relationships in families, communities, even nations...all because of words that cut or victimized.

Words.... Let's be careful with them.