Words

Words, they're omnipresent yet each word carries a plenitude of meaning, a few words strung together can start a revolution and what better testimony to this fact than history itself? “Make love not war”, “Patria o Muerte”, “Give me liberty or give me death”.

These are just a few instances of the countless occurences where words have shaped our history.

The worlds greatest orators have used this simple tool to influence and spread messages Nelson Mandela, who opposed the South African apartheid regime and was imprisoned for nearly 3 decades, knew the true power of words. He is often quoted today, but while in prison his words could not be quoted for fear of repercussion. A decade after he was released he said: “It is never my custom to use words lightly. If 27 years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious words are, and how real speech is in its impact on the way people live and die.”

Words are arguably, the single most powerful force available to mankind, and with great power, comes great responsibility. We're all accountable for what comes out of our mouths but often we humans use this power to manipulate others to get what we want and evince authority. Words were meant to help, to heal, to soothe yet we find people using them to hurt, humiliate and ruthlessly criticize others.

Given the power words have and the impact they can create, it's even more imperative to reiterate that the words we choose in our speech is of paramount importance. A word that we might find relatively inoffensive can hurt someone far more that we might have thought it would, speak your mind yes, but it's always wise to think twice about what we could say and what we should.

As Joyce Meyer put it, Words are containers for power. You choose what kind of power they carry.