Perceptions #200115

"The Power Of Words"

by Douglas Parsons

Someone suggested that many words are undergoing remarkable changes. For example, by the changing of a word they can elevate the price of an article. "Footwear" is higher priced than shoes. A "journal" is more expensive than a magazine. An establishment that has a "clientele"- can be expected to charge more than one who has plain customers. A trip to a men's "hair salon" can set you back twice what a jaunt to the barber will.

Words have elevated job titles to new heights of haughtiness. Prison guards are now "security officers." Hairdressers are "tonsorial artists". Undertakers are "morticians." Garbage men are "Sanitation engineers." But Christians are still Christians -- there's no need to improve on that title!

I recall the power of words when a friend told of being initiated into a fraternity. Of all the foolish things that were done, the last night was the worst. He was brought into a room and told that he would be branded on the stomach with a red-hot iron. The poker was placed on the heater. He was blindfolded.

Members of the fraternity kept the words going. "Get it hotter" they would say. Another said, "It won't hurt much." As the poker was being heated in the stove, words kept on rolling and my friend listened to them. His midsection was bared. The boy with the poker pressed it against a piece of beefsteak held near his stomach. This gave a sizzling sound and small. At the same time that the poker was pressed against the beefsteak, an ordinary piece of ice was placed against the bare skin! I think that you can see the power of words.

POWER OF WORDS TO HURT.

Someone put it down like this:
A careless word may kindle strife.
A cruel word may wreck a life.
A brutal word may smite and kill.
A gracious word may smooth the way.
A joyous word may light day.
A timely word may lessen strife.
A healing word may heal and bless.

How true it is that careless, cruel and brutal words have the power to hurt.

POWER OF WORDS TO HEAL.

A lot of good sense is in the following statement: "Kind words do not cost much. They never blister the tongue or the lips. Though they do not cost much, they accomplish much. They make other people good-natured. They also produce their own image in other men's souls and a beautiful image it is." Every one of us should determine to speak the words that would help others. A few words can have such power that the course of a person's life can be changed.

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