Did I really say that?
Thanks to my loving friend, K (you must visit her blog at http://www.yellingfireinacrowdedtheater.blogspot.com/), a new subject started percolating, and surfacing in my mind.
Remember some of those infamous words, said by people, one's they wish could be taken away, evaporate into thin air like rainclouds,or in other instances , become a source of tangible immortality like a badge of great honor and courage. Take Bill Clinton's famous line: "I did not have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky. How could we not think about the timely saying by Michael Jackson: "There is nothing wrong with sharing your bed with children." Or, as K, has so elegantly pointed out: "If the glove does not fit, you must acquit." Or George Bush: "Saddam Hussein is hiding weapons of mass destruction."
Words have so much power, and their impact can sting so deeply that a person's relationships, career, life or freedom can be at stake as a result of their mere utterance. How many of us have said something we regret later? Can we truly ever really take back our words? Do we want to do so? I imagine the answer would be a definite YES for Clinton, Jackson and Bush. I imagine these men, wishing they were endowded with a magical potion, allowing them to make the words they said disappear.
Nevertheless, I still LOVE being a word person, and would not change it for the world.
Thank you for your minds.
Remember some of those infamous words, said by people, one's they wish could be taken away, evaporate into thin air like rainclouds,or in other instances , become a source of tangible immortality like a badge of great honor and courage. Take Bill Clinton's famous line: "I did not have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky. How could we not think about the timely saying by Michael Jackson: "There is nothing wrong with sharing your bed with children." Or, as K, has so elegantly pointed out: "If the glove does not fit, you must acquit." Or George Bush: "Saddam Hussein is hiding weapons of mass destruction."
Words have so much power, and their impact can sting so deeply that a person's relationships, career, life or freedom can be at stake as a result of their mere utterance. How many of us have said something we regret later? Can we truly ever really take back our words? Do we want to do so? I imagine the answer would be a definite YES for Clinton, Jackson and Bush. I imagine these men, wishing they were endowded with a magical potion, allowing them to make the words they said disappear.
Nevertheless, I still LOVE being a word person, and would not change it for the world.
Thank you for your minds.
9 Comments:
I bet those words will haunt Michael Jackson until his conviction.
I agree with all you have said about words. They are POWER. For good or evil.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can truly hurt me.
They truly are power. They are either life-giving or destructive... and if we could really grasp this, we could become life-changers for some. Truly.
Thanks for stopping by my place :)
I'll be back.
Hi Barbara,
thanks for stopping by my place too! love yours!
when i hear the rain dropping outside my window at night, (it rains alot in BC) it always reminds me of the tapping of computer keys, and writing - and who can sleep when they have something to write!
i however, can relate to those famous hideous one liners, having made quite a few embarassing remarks myself...!
Last year I had the privilege of being part of an improv performance team that teaches educational curriculum through the art of improv games. Many of the schools we visited were in urban, low-income neighbordhoods. The set-up of the program was that we would do a show for the whole grad (typically a couple of grades, like 3rd & 4th graders), and then the troupe would break up and go to classrooms to do the games with the classes so that they students could interact. (Just to clarify, we would teach math or language arts concepts through the constructs of the games...funny stuff, but it helps the kids grasp heady concepts.) Anyway, I remember one specific school where I left crying, and I have never forgotten how sad that experience was. One of the games was to have 4-5 students stand at the front of the room, and I would point to one at a time...randomly...and they would tell a story that they make up on the spot. As I pointed to a different student, that child would have to pick up where another left off...the stories tended to get quite whacky, but it demonstrates how we must listen to one another and to maintain a theme. Anyway, this one particular class started off, and within a couple of sentences a little boy started saying hurtful and insulting things about a little girl sitting in the class. I stopped the game and said that "words can be used to encourage one another or to tear each other down, and that these games are designed to have fun...and that it is neither fun nor funny to make 'fun' of people." So we started again...and again, these kids started insulting others in the classroom. So I took a harder line and explained that we are there as a treat to the classroom and that I would not spend my time or energy letting them hurt people's feelings. I politely excused that panel and switched to another game. Again, and again, the questions that came during these FUN games were things like "Why are teachers so mean?" and the answer in the game would be "Because kids are dumb and don't matter." THIS HAPPENED IN MORE THAN ONE CLASS! The whole point of this story is that those kids had been hearing those things so often that it came out unprompted and in the context of fun. When will we all realize that our words can be used as weapons or as salve...as explosives or as brick & mortar...as light or as a cloak...
I am as guilty as the next as using my words to harm other people, but I learned a valuable lesson that day that our words shape not only how people feel about me...but how they feel about themselves.
Thank you all for your beautiful comments.
Whit, in your infinite wisdom, hit a nail on a deflated head: words, ultimately affect us the most. What we say, how we say it, whether we are at peace with ourselves and others, is mostly a result of our own making.
This is a salute to all you powerful women out there!
Can we take our words back you ask?
I say YES.
Why?
Because what we say at a particular moment in time, is based on the world as we see it, smell it, and feel it, right then & there.
So when we make comments at that time, I believe (most of us anyway) Truly (unless we're outright lying) believe what we are saying or doing at that moment, to be the correct, one & only response. We can take them back in the furure, because our situations, & current surroundings now give us a better understanding of what truly happened.
And as human beings, we can relate to the fact that we are not perfect, and have possibly made a mistake. As long as eventually you admit fault as quickly & sincerely as we made our statement(s).
i don't think we can take words back. but i do think God can heal the heart of the hearer from the sting of them.
saddam did have W.M.D.'S at one time he used them on his own people.
http://www.beyan.net/halabja/
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