“Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care, for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.” -Buddha
Understanding the power of words is like a magician’s inclination, they can become a spell even when we don’t realize it. We can use the power of words to make our world a better place. I’ve seen in many domestic violence situations what the words of another has done. If you’re told you’re ugly, stupid many times it takes a toll on you. It changes people.
With words we can create new things but also break things down. Our words can begin to take root in people’s minds.
Many political battles are highly strategized language wars. What someone says can influence how we perceive it. The gay marriage debate shifted when it was reframed as marriage equality. How about abortion? Are you pro-life? Who could possibly be anti-life, want to takes innocent life? Or pro-choice? A woman should not be told to do with her body, with her life choices, right? Each side is well framed with words.
This isn’t trivial. The vocabulary we use for our causes can help determine the future.
The power of words brand and legalize.
Branding something had become a issue of practice, it makes it more real, and reinforces its legitimacy. The more people hear the phrases, the more it becomes important. And something they should consider supporting or not.
The power of words can expose the wrong or the right. I think of coffee franchises lets take Starbucks and Black rifle Coffee Company. I remember a news report I heard about Starbucks kicking police officers out of the building because they were “making people uncomfortable.” Then at Black rifle coffee company the name really says it all they believe in “the right to bear arms.” They are veteran owned and support Veteran organizations. Very different coffee companies, different belief systems,
We live in a world of finite resources. Changing how we consume these resources will either safeguard or jeopardize them for generations. But doing so will require not only changing our behavior, but learning a new language.
Movements usually create their own unique practices and vocabulary. The power of words, practices that would have otherwise gone unnoticed are getting exposed, mostly because of social media and the increase of information we can find on our phones.
Our words can create new paths for society.
It used to be the we could depend on the news media to research and find out if the information they aired was true. Well, those were the good old days. That is not the case anymore. They can say whatever they want to make people believe lies as truth. Or truth as lies. It all had to do with the power of words, and probably a lot more to do with the power of money. “Money talks” anymore it has nothing to do with the truth.
Our every day choices gives us power to create a world we would like to live in. We can boycott a company or store that discriminates against people or up funds efforts we don’t like, and we can intentionally buy things from businesses that does things we agree with. We vote for the future of the world with our dollars “Money talks.”
The difference between the all right word and the right word is a really large matter. It difference between a lightning bug and the lightning. The language of world change is all around us. Do you hear it?
As we work to move our cause’s forward our words matter.
From Pity to Praise 