Only Through Application is The Pen Truly Mighty

Sometimes I start to think about words.  I think about the way we use them.  I think about how powerful or pointless or brutal or beautiful they can be.  I think about authors and the moments they spent pouring their hearts, souls, and imaginations into written pieces that will someday be read only by their mother, or by millions of people in many different languages.  I think about the joy and the pain that goes into the craft of writing.  I think about the way it is possible for the everyday use of words to inspire, to teach, to convey, to threaten, to frighten, to guide, to direct, to describe, and to trick. 

I think about all the wall prints and coffee mugs and embroidered quilts that are created using the words of others.  I wonder whether those authors knew as they were penning those sentences that they would be used for years to come to do any one of the things mentioned above.  I wonder if the great writers felt the power of their own words as they were flowing from brain to hand. 

And I invariably start to think about my own words.  What power am I wielding with the words I choose every single day?  Am I thinking it through before they come out of my mouth?  Am I taking the time to create sentences that will inspire or teach?  Or am I placing words together in order to trick or manipulate? 

The honest answers are: The possibility of an enormous power, not all the time, yes, and yes.

I have always believed in the power of words.  But my belief in that power has changed as I have grown older and experienced more.  I now know that while words do intrinsically hold a power, they can only wield that power when we allow them to.  Words can only be inspirational if they inspire us to do something.  They can only frighten if we feel fear upon hearing or reading them.  They can only direct us when we follow the directions. 

So, what are my words being used for?  I would like to think that I am using words in healthy ways; teaching children how to perform tasks, imparting the wisdoms of an older generation onto a younger one, creating a sense of inspiration in another human being so that they may take my words as an impetus to do something. 

While these uses are my goals, they are not always my outcomes.  I have used my words to say mean things, to undermine the accomplishments of another person, and to gossip.  I have used words to gloss over the beauty I could find all around me in order to complain about the one ugly thing I am focused on.  I have used words to say unkind things about another person when I have felt in some way wronged or ignored.  I have uttered the words “I can’t” even though that unique combination of words is not something I believe.

Fortunately there is always room for improvement.  There is room for me to take the words that I see and hear, turn them into action and do something; to do anything I want.  There is room for me to take a moment and consider if it will really make me permanently feel better to gossip about another person who has temporarily made me feel upset.  There is room for me to recognize that when one of my boys has made a poor choice, the best use of words is not to threaten or to express disappointment, it is to teach and to help them know how to make a better choice in the future. 

It is through my actions that words hold power for me.  And I hope that it will someday be because of my actions that my words are memorized or repeated.  I hope that my words hold the right kind of power; the kind that inspires action.  Even if that action is to cross-stitch my words onto a pillow or to screen-print them onto a mug.  I can live with that.