The pen is mightier than the sword - isn't that what they say? As an English major, I think I can believe them. The pen is a mighty thing, not for what it is, but for what it can do. It can spread words. Anyone can speak them, but unless they are written, the only ones that will ever hear your exact words are those within earshot. How many moments of brilliance have been lost because the words were not recorded?
But it is not the pen itself that is powerful. It is the words. Words are power. They can change hearts, begin and end relationships, tell stories and weave worlds with only (in English) 26 letters in a variety of combinations that somehow make sense to the human mind.
Words have honestly changed my life many times over. Whether it be a book that I read that made me think, something someone said (either good or bad), or something I thought and subsequently blogged about, words have changed me.
I once heard/read a story about a man who, when he was a boy, was the best of friends with a black boy in a time where that was unpopular. They played at insulting each other, never meaning it, until one day, one of them took it too far, saying that one word that nobody ever says. Their friendship faded after that. Though they spoke and were well-acquainted, no longer were they the best of friends. I had a similar thing happen once, though not in the same exact situation. Actually, come to think of it, it has happened more than once. I think, if we realized how easily a simple turn of phrase and the wrong choice of words could ruin relationships, we would be more careful how we speak to our friends. I have had friends that I trusted completely one day and almost not at all the next because of something they said.
My philosophy on life has its roots in the books I choose to read. That is why I believe that love exists. Why I believe in right and wrong. Why I believe in the good in people's hearts. Why I believe in art. The books help me to see the world in a different light, through the eyes of people in so many different situations that sometimes it's hard to remember who I am. It's those days I need a friend the most, to give me the right words and remind me who to be.
(Because friends can do that. Sometimes without meaning to. And it can add to how much you trust them. That's the positive end of the other scenario - those conversations when friends are made)
Words can change the world. All the great leaders of the world used words to their advantage, and there is not one who was not a great orator (or who did not have one at their side) or a powerful writer. Thomas Paine's Common Sense inspired many people to fight for independence. Jesus Christ taught His people. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream - but it didn't have power until he spoke those famous words.
Hitler convinced many that there was a superior race. Mussolini, too, had a way with words.
Words can build. Words can destroy.
(Right this instant, I am growing rather vexed with a friend of mine because of the words they are choosing to use in a Facebook group chat)
Last week I was in a Shakespeare Revised play (you may have seen our promo video, but if not, watch it again). The play focused on power, and I played Cassius in Julius Caesar. Cassius is focused on Caesar's downfall, and uses words to ensure it. He "inscribes letters, as if they came from several citizens of Rome" and uses them to convince Brutus that they must kill Caesar. Words can change things.
Historical documents that have changed the world through words are many and widespread. The Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, The Rights of Man, etc. Philosophers like Emerson and Thoreau have used words to express a philosophy that millions now share. Words can change the world.
Words can also be disjointed, like this entire post and my mind. Yet the point still stands. Words are so incredibly powerful. You hold a great weapon. Use it wisely.
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