User:Words (Project)

We use words primarily for communication, but that is not the limit of their power. Words can evoke feelings - happiness, joy, love, hate, and many more. They can either rally or divide people. They can do so many things, ranging from spreading hatred to providing consolation. The following statements summarize the vast powers of words:

Words have enormous power, possessing as they do the ability to include or exclude, to hurt, or to heal. Although they can be used for destructive purposes, to spread hatred and inflict cruelty, they also embody a spark of holiness. With them, we express love, create laughter, and learn to communicate. Words enrich, guide, educate, and strengthen. They console and comfort, clarify and calm. They offer encouragement and spur us on to greater efforts.

This passage in and of itself demonstrates one of the many powers of words: communication. The passage is relatively short, but it describes the vast and diverse power of words.

Include
With a simple sentence, one can acknowledge and accept another. Even among children, words of inclusion are commonplace. "Do you want to play with me?" A simple question one child asks another, including him or her, and signifying acceptance. According to the Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, acceptance, "the ascription of equal membership in the human community" is key to having dignity, which is key to being human. Thus, even a child can grant dignity and humanity to another.

On a much wider scale, the United States Constitution contains several amendments that grant inclusion to entire groups of people. For example, the Fifteenth Amendment states that "the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." This extends an important right to more people in the United States. One sentence, one single sequence of words, includes entire groups of people into one of the most important processes in the United States.

The ability of words to include is one of many of their powers, and one of their most significant, because inclusion is a key component comprising an individual's humanity.

Exclude
Words have the power to include an individual or group into society, but they are also capable of doing the opposite. They can exclude an individual or an entire group, removing their dignity and dehumanizing them. Returning to the example of school children, the words "We don't want to play with you" push a child away from his or her classmates, into a state social exile. A child rejected by his or her peers is humiliated and frustrated, even hurt. When one is excluded, one's sense of belonging, community, dignity, and humanity are all affected negatively. In the example of the child rejected by his classmates, these things are disrupted only temporarily, as exclusion or other forms of verbal hurt can often be reconciled.

More serious exclusions, often affecting entire groups of people, dehumanize whole peoples. The most well known historical example of an entire group being excluded is the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews. The following excerpt from the Nazi SS newspaper, Das Schwarze Korps (1938), demonstrates the hatred that the Nazis had for the Jews, and their desire to exclude the Jews from their society:

So, we are now going to have a total solution to the Jewish question. The programme is clear. It reads: total separation, total segregation! What does this mean? It does not only mean the total exclusion of the Jews from the German economic system... It means much more! No German can be expected to live under the same roof as Jews. The Jews must be chased out of our houses and our residential districts and made to live in rows or blocks of houses where they can keep to themselves and come into contact with Germans as little as possible. They must be clearly identified.... And when we compel the rich Jews to provide for the `poor' of their race, which will certainly be necessary, they will all sink together into a pit of  criminality. As this happens, we will be faced with the harsh necessity of eradicating the Jewish underworld, just as we root out criminals from our own orderly state: with fire and sword. The result will be the certain and absolute end of Jewry in Germany; its complete annihilation!

This excerpt describes first a segregation of the Jews, and ends by excitedly announcing the "complete" annihilation of the German Jewish population. This is one of history's best examples of how words can exclude people. These kinds of anti-Semitic writings and speeches in Nazi Germany were followed by actions of segregation and dehumanization.

"Words Become Actions"
Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits, they become your character. Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.

This passage, of unknown origin, describes exactly how words fit into our lives. Words are the second most basic level in the given hierarchy describing the formation of one's destiny. The Nazis, in their persecution of the Jews, exemplify this quotation. The Nazis feelings and thoughts of hatred towards the Jews manifested as words, which, in print and in speech, excluded and spread hatred of the Jews. These words then took the form of actions, initially random acts of violence against Jewish individuals, which then became a habit of humiliating, dehumanizing, imprisoning and exterminating the Jews of Europe. Then the Nazi character became that of an aggressor, oppressor, and dehumanizer, who was destined to be remembered as such and hated for it.

This passage serves as a warning: hateful thoughts and words will develop into hateful actions and habits, which will negatively impact character and destiny. While still in the stages of thoughts or words, hatred can be controlled, ended. Words can "spread hatred and inflict cruelty" but can also have "the ability to heal." If words begin to spread hatred, it is possible to correct them. Apologetic words rarely fall on deaf ears; a sincere apology has an enormous capacity to heal.

"To Hurt, or to Heal"
The adage "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" does not always hold true. Words can cause extreme emotional pain, and words can be cruel. A recent example of the extreme cruelty of words: a thirteen year old girl, belittled over the internet (via the social networking site MySpace) took her own life. The last of the messages sent to her read "You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a s***** rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you."

These cruel had great power over this girl: she actually did as they said, because they excluded her so much. These words had reverberations that affected the girl, her family, the writers, the community and the entire nation. The power of "the world would be a better place without you" drove the girl to take her life, which brought grief to her family and traumatized her community and the whole of the United States. Also as a result of these words, legal action has been taken against those who wrote them. In this case, words had a life-ending power; The ultimate power of words to hurt and to inflict cruelty.

Words can also heal. As the American Civil War drew to a close, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln gave his Second Inaugural Address, which concluded as follows: With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan -- to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."

The promise of "malice towards none" after the bloodiest war in American history (at the time), was astonishing, and it had extraordinary power. The extent to which Lincoln was willing to forgive in order to heal was summed up in his brief and eloquent "with malice towards none; with charity for all."

Encouragement
Words can be the most powerful motivators. They are an amazing source of encouragement. When a performer, athlete, or anyone else is nervous, the words "You can do it" or "I believe in you" provide confidence. Words can also help one encourage oneself in a difficult situation. During a grueling physical challenge or a challenging test, saying "Okay, I can do this," under one's breath verbalizes the idea, allowing the individual to hear it. This makes the idea more real, and provides the individual self-confidence.

Knowing someone else is there for support is also very encouraging. This can sometimes be expressed without words, perhaps in the form of a hug. However, during an athletic event, a hug would be impossible, and gestures can often go unnoticed. A yell of support is much more easily noticed and provides more encouragement. As a cross country runner, hearing the coach shout "Move!" at the top of his lungs provides incredible motivation, because I then know that someone is there, supporting me, and encouraging me to move faster and exert more effort.

Love and Laughter
"I love you." Perhaps the most powerful three words in the entire English language. Love is an important emotion to many people, and being able to express this feeling of love, and to hear it expressed in return, is of tremendous importance to some. To others, love cannot be expressed in words. Nadine Gordimer, in her novel The Pickup wrote:

They have never said the worn old words to one another, for her they are bourgeois clichés left behind; or perhaps it was because they would need a different vocabulary in their two languages.

This quote makes the point that sometimes love, the raw emotion, transcends words. The feeling, for some, is more important than the words. Others place more significance on the words, making the words useful.

Love is connected very much to laughter. W.H. Auden said "Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those whom I love, I can: all of them make me laugh." According to Auden, laughter is a critical component in love. Laughter can be induced in many ways, through physical contact, through funny actions, or through words that are either intentionally or unintentionally humorous. The most common means of inducing laughter is using words. The professional comic could stand on a stage and make funny faces, but very few people would continue to find it amusing after a few minutes. Words are an essential component in creating laughter, which is essential in love.

Words, being able to make people laugh and to make them love one another, are critical in the world. Love and laughter are perhaps two of the most important things in the world, and without them, we would have much less fulfilling lives.

Education
Education is valued very highly in many societies. In the American society, the word "Doctor" is the only unique title signifying a higher level of respect. Without language (words), there would be no highly effective means of communication between people, and education would become nearly impossible. Words are how we pass knowledge amongst ourselves. Imagine sitting in a classroom or a lecture hall during a class with no words being said and no writing displayed anywhere. How much knowledge is being passed around? How much educating is going on? Very little, if any. Words, be they spoken, written, or represented by symbols, are critical in obtaining an education as we know it.