“The Power of Words”

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"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”

Rudyard Kipling

"Sticks and stones may break my

bones, but words will never hurt me."

I once read that a word is like a living organism, capable of growing, changing, spreading, and influencing the world in many ways, directly and indirectly through others. I never thought about a word being 'alive' but then I thought of words spoken 3,000 years ago, written down and passed through many generations, and they seem quite alive when read or spoken today, having lived 3,000 years. As I ponder the power of the word to incite and divide, to calm and connect, or to create and effect change, I am ever more cautious in what I say and how I listen to the words around me. Susan Smalley

“If someone were to pay you 10 cents for every kind word you ever spoke and collect from you 5 cents for every unkind word, would you be rich or poor?” Unknown source

“The language we use to communicate with one another is like a knife. In the hands of a careful and skilled surgeon, a knife can work to do great good. But in the hands of a careless or ignorant person, a knife can cause great harm.” Unknown source

“Da Da”: Powerful enough to make a grown man cry when spoken for the first time by his son or daughter. Source unknown

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are endless.”

Mother Theresa(1910-1997) Nun, Missionaries of Charity,

Nobel Peace Prize 1979