Influence: Part II

Annoying, boring, clumsy, damned, excluded, fake, gross, horrible, idiotic, jealous, kept away, labeled, messy, naive, obsessive, plain, queer, resented, selfish, terrible, ugly, vile, worthless, xenophobic, yucky, zero.

Words like these can shape a life, but not for the better. These simple scratches of ink, crisscrossing and curving across a dead tree, can haunt someone forever.

When struck by an insult, the initial reaction is to defend against it. But if it’s hurtful enough, a part of the mind latches onto it and won’t let go. The word ugly can result in hours standing in front of a mirror trying to make an unappealing form more presentable, when it was never really ugly in the first place.

The emotions of a human are sensitive and easily scarred. And as described by published author Michael Hyatt, “Our words carry enormous weight”. If this is true, then think what negative words can do to a person. A single insult or whisper of gossip adds a pound block to their back.

Then more insults come as foul-minded acquaintances or so-called friends drop lines and jokes without thinking of the consequences. Soon the person is buried under the weight of these negative words and it’s almost impossible to dig them self out.

This is the power of negative words, the reverse image of what positive words can do. They are degrading and thieves of life. Each word or compilation of words has the option of dropping a weight to the pile or picking one up and tossing it in the rushing river. The speaker is the one to decide what their words will do, and not everyone chooses to help the poor souls buried in insults they’ve begun to think are the truth. Not everyone can see how lost these people are. Not everyone cares.

But the few who do can use the power of their words—the power of those little scratches of ink on dead trees—to unearth the graves and reveal the living beneath the death. “Death and life is in the power of the tongue.” (NASB, Proverbs 18:21)

A calling to something better,

A responsibility, that’s for sure,

To use tools against the hate

For words are the sole, easy cure.