The sun sets on another day…
Well, wow. Sunset was a swirling malestrom of color as the sun shattered the western sky. I smiled as I saw the light cascade across the horizon.
I start you with a poem:
“Sticks and stones are hard on bones, Aimed with angry art, Words can sting like anything But silence breaks the heart.”
Of course, my first statement is about sticks and stones breaking your bones, don’t use sticks and stones to break people’s bones. It would be a bad thing.
Words can sting like anything is a unique phrase. This particular poem has been heavily quoted for years and years. I first read it when I was relatively young and considered the pain that words often inflict. This can be either directed pain, or it can be pain caused by words unknowingly. It is important to consider our words in how they affect other people, and just as important to consider our silence.
As I have grown older, I have found many people I interact with consistently, and some of them I have hurt inadvertently by either my use of words or my lack of words. I have found that if I take a moment and consider what I’m about to say or why I am not responding, I will find my answers. We all have that opportunity, and because words can sting like anything, we need to take the time to choose our words wisely.
I remember a discussion with someone so excited that I actually fought for them as if it were yesterday. I put myself in a precarious situation to protect someone’s honor and self, and it was only a short time later that that person disappeared from my life. There were words that stung hard and a silence that stung just as hard. I often wonder where that person is now and how they are doing.
I will also never forget the words “That’s not going to work for me” when I struggled to meet halfway only to be pushed in a corner in favor of someone elses needs. Those words will sting always.
So as the sun sets on another day, the weapon no one sees is the wildly wieldy voice that shatters the world. I hope you always find the right words not to be a weapon but instead lift people, including yourself. Thanks for being you every day, no matter what.
Sleep sweet, love life, and shhhhh