–
Proverbs 10:19 (NRSV)
There was another primary debate last night. It was full of
words. An awful lot of those words were hateful, vindictive, belittling and
abusive. The front runner was lashing out with typical lack of restraint
calling others names and putting them down with an air of superiority and disdain.
A lot of words spoken but it felt like not a lot of worthwhile words were
shared.
Like it or not, words have power. They can uplift, inspire,
rally and create vast possibilities. They can also demean, enslave, instill
fear, cause riots, and make normally good people do very inhumane things. When
you add tone, setting, inflection, emotion, body movements and volume words can
take on even more power and significance.
Words can hurt. I remember the first time my eldest child
said to me in a fit of pre-schooler rage, “I hate you!” It stabbed me in the heart. It devastated me.
Here was this precious child that I would do anything for, whom I had made a solemn
covenant with God to nurture and protect, who I loved more deeply than I
thought possible telling me with all the passion and power she could muster
that she hated me. Now I know she was just trying to vent her frustration and
that all children say these kinds of things without really meaning them but
still, at the moment I felt the pain of those words.
I can’t even imagine the pain of racial slurs, the torment
of belittling language, the soul damage of condescending verbiage that women
and minorities, the poor and outcast, the disabled and disenfranchised have had
to endure. I have never been the recipient of such words. The closest I have
ever come would be in seminary when a radical feminist vehemently lashed out at
me for not good reason just because I was a male. Though her words caught me
off guard and made me reflect on what I had said and done they did not call
into question my basic humanity or my reality of being a beloved child of God.
Words may be inexact. They might be metaphors. They are only
representations of thoughts, feelings and emotions but they still carry
tremendous power. Think about Genesis 1, John 1, Micah 6, Isaiah 2, The Gettysburg
Address, the “I have a Dream” speech, FDR the day after Pearl Harbor, John F.
Kennedy’s inauguration speech, Barak Obama’s first inauguration speech, and the
thousands, millions, billions of songs, poems, sermons, speeches, commentaries,
editorials, reflections, novels, biographies, memoirs, diaries, and any other
media that presents words that have impacted and influenced you, our society
and our world and you get a sense of the power of words.
My hope is that I will pay attention to all the words I use.
That I will try and make sure the words I speak and write do no harm. That they
at least don’t damage and at best repair people. I see the wisdom in my mom’s
advice to count to 25 before you react. I understand the wisdom behind the counsel
to reread an email and let it sit for a moment before you send it. I have come
to appreciate the pause before speaking. Now all I have to do is get my mind
and mouth to follow this sage guidance.
I can’t help but wonder if some of the candidates just don’t
hear what they say. Can they really mean what they are saying? And if they do,
how can people of faith and good consciences support such hateful, demeaning
and downright bigoted people? I heard a Baptist pastor on NPR defending a
candidate because he would help bring our country back to good biblical values
even thought he wasn’t a good Christian. I thought was he hearing what I was
hearing? As we move deeper into this election cycle the words will only get harsher
and the speech more inflammatory. Hateful and harmful things will be said and
written. My hope is that somehow we can find a way to rise above the polluted
festering pile of damaging verbiage to a more respectful and decent level of
discourse. History has not shown me much reason to expect my hope to come true
but as they say, hope springs eternal.
Dear God, help us all to pay attention to our words. Help me
to work hard to keep my words in check. May what I say and write build people
up, help people out and not be damaging to another. Amen.
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