Rankin418-web

The
Time
COIN
Camille Anding
Words! Who can count them?
They’re everywhere – on signs,
billboards, assembled in books, letters, and
reports. They spill from our lips – often
without forethought and merge with an
endless flow from tongues of every nation
and tribe.
Some words are put to music to tell
stories or reveal happy or broken hearts.
Other words are written in love letters,
intimate and saturated in romance.
It’s striking to me to realize the power
in words. A collection of the alphabet of
innocent letters can form words that build
up and edify or they can mutilate and destroy.
Words also have the power to lodge in
our minds – like a branding in our brain.
Children learn quickly to use words to
communicate, but their words are less likely
to stick. Their memories are short, and their
hearts more forgiving.
It’s the teenage years when words
become weapons of survival. Sarcastic words
grow in popularity as individuals seek a rank
in the “pecking” order. Group laughter
elevates the speaker while singling out that
individual to be the butt of the joke.
I find it interesting that my memory
has “fogged” over a lot of my childhood’s
details, but one memory is as fresh as the
day it was made. A friend, I thought, singled
me out in a group and formed a series of
words that cut sharper than a dagger. There
was no outward sign of blood, but I learned
that day that hearts can bleed.
After the laughter died, life went back
to the usual. All was history, but I had
learned the searing pain of words and their
ability to leave scars.
The most painful lessons are usually
the best learned. That brief experience has
remained a witness to me and a permanent
reminder of the power of words. I wish
I could say that my own tongue was tamed
from that moment until now, but I can’t.
I still let it say things that are not edifying
or kind.
A wise Proverb says, “Kind words are
like honey – sweet to the soul and healthy
for the body.” Another says, “Gentle words
bring life and health; a deceitful tongue
crushes the spirit.”
Gentle, kind words are what we need.
There are enough scars. n
146 • April 2018