THE WORDS WE SPEAK

Hello Friends,

What do you think of my latest little floral design? I actually made it out of the flowers I rescued from one I previously made!

How are you all doing in this month of February? Recently, I’ve been focusing and paying more and more attention to words.

WORDS

W

ords we speak, words we say to each other, and words we say about each other. Why do these words of our mouth have so much power to build or to destroy someone? After all, words are just words! Or aren’t they?

Recently one of my daughters broke down in tears - and I so did I. It was the first time she was actually able to tell me what she went through in her high school - being bullied. It was the first time she was able to go through that dark passage and express all the things that happened to her. All the things that the bullies did to her- and it seemed what was even worse and more devastating were the WORDS they spoke to her and said about her.

These WORDS formed part of her growing life and she struggled finding her true identity. These NEGATIVE WORDS practically coexisted and formed the backdrop of her struggles to fit into a world that is ever-changing.

Any child, adolescent and even adult feels they need to fit into a society and be accepted in whatever place they are. As a parent listening to my child as she narrated her struggle, I can tell you I felt sick. 

Just last year I heard a tragic story of how a young person, not even 16 yet, took his own  life because of being bullied at school. That child couldn’t take it anymore and didn’t even have the strength to tell his parents as he feared the repercussions from the bullies.  It was too late when they found out just how bad it was for their child.  The  hospital's Intensive Care Unit had to switch off the life-support machine for that dear child.  There was nothing else they could do to save his life.

This is what bullying did. It took away the life of a child. An innocent child. It took the life of someone’s child, someone’s brother, someone’s grandson, someone’s friend! Now tell me!

As a parent, when the effects of bullying visits your home -it is life changing.  As I write my heart is appalled.  I am steeped in sorrow. Thankfully we could walk through the dark past with my daughter. She is beautiful with an exquisite heart. She needed to know that.  A ray of light did come out of her experience:

She realized that she had been living under the shadow of  her peers’ NEGATIVE WORDS. With strength she was able to rise up and declare that neither did her peers nor their WORDS define who she was! Also she intends to help children who go through things like that. She also plans to go BACK to her high school as a guest speaker and talk to the teenagers there. She wants them to know about the effects of bullying-and what all bullies in the world should know! 

Amen!!!

The WORDS we speak, how powerful WORDS are! No child or person should ever have to go through things like that. EVER!

One of the things my daughter said in her sorrow was, ‘Mum, I forgive and actually feel sorry for those girls - they must’ve been so unhappy in their own lives to do such terrible things to others!’

I pray that the healing process has begun  in my girl and pray the same  will happen for many others who had gone through this  terrible suffering.

Please everyone, let us be more attentive to the words of our mouth. Let us be careful about what we say especially over our children and each another. Once a word is spoken good or bad we cannot retract it. WORDS have far-reaching effects.

So let our words pure and lovely and acceptable to the ear. We all have a duty to build each other up and not to tear  down that which God has made so perfectly.

I will be continuing to talk about the power of the spoken WORD.

As we return and flip through the pages of The Next of Kin,  we encounter the doctors working on Fr Angelo.  In Chapter Five Fr Angelo is unconscious and very gravely ill. The doctors are frantically working on him. The junior doctor asks the consultant what Angelo’s prognosis is. The matron gets very upset and tells the medical team that it is not right for them to discuss over Angelo. The Matron says, “Er… maybe we shouldn’t talk over the patient. Whilst a patient maybe unconscious, we must be very aware that they are still able to hear us, according to my training, old fashioned though it may seem to be.”

She adds that, “One can always discuss it outside – but never within the patient’s hearing – because the last vestige of hope, which may still be residing in the subconscious and in his spirit, might just be put out forever!”

What the Matron means is that even if Angelo is unconscious, he is still able to hear and process what they are saying. And if their words are negative, even the last vestige of hope that may have been residing in his subconscious mind would be shattered.

So friends let me know what you think of WORDS.

God Bless you all!

Olivia