Words Matter

​As you can tell by my writing the last few days, I was taken by this young woman Amanda Gorman. I'm mesmerized - captivated by - in awe of - people who can use words in powerful and lifechanging ways.

I listened to Anderson Cooper interview Amanda Gorman after she read her poem on inauguration day- The Hill We Climb. Cooper asked her what kind of images were going through her head as she wrote her poem. He seemed a little shocked by her answer; I totally got it.

She said, none. There were no images going through her head.

Instead, she's been reading what people say about the challenges facing our country. "I don't work in images - I work in words and text," she said.

For me, from a young age, I've always understood the power of words.

There are things I wish I'd said; things I wish I hadn't. I have words I hold onto - deep within me - wishing I could say. I have things I wish I'd hear from others. I have wounded and been wounded by words - I have healed and been healed with them.

Maybe stronger than I believe much of anything - I'm with you Amanda Gorman - I believe words matter.

You know, to be frank with you all, over these last several years as I've watched us get taken aback by the way some of our politicians talk to one another - the way they talk to us - I've wondered if we've noticed the way we've started talking to one another.

There have been days I've wondered if the de-sanctification of words by people in roles above us, has quietly permitted us to de-sanctify the lives of people around us with our words.

My big fear in some of the collective hope I hear about a change of tone at the top, is that we've somehow overlooked the change of tone we've developed toward one another down here.

Much more often than I've found myself saying, I can't believe I just heard a president say that - and I've said that a bit - but much more than I've found myself saying that, I've found myself saying, I can't believe I just heard people say that to one another.

Proverbs 15:4 says, A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

You know, no matter how pure and sanctified the capital building gets, it will never be pure enough or sanctified enough to heal the spirits we are breaking in one another with our words.

Because words matter.

As much as I'm clinging to any hope Amanda Gorman offered through her poem, I'm clinging to the hope she offered in her interview with Anderson Cooper. The hope that comes when we all recognize a gentle tongue is a tree of life. When we'll all take as a personal challenge for ourselves and not one pointed at someone else - the challenge to repurify and resanctify the power of words.

Because words matter.