So I was led into the swirling abyss of my mind the other day, or perhaps it was last night, during those surreal hours of insomnia buffered by brief respites of sleep. Either way, a scary thought, I know. I was thinking on words, and how they seem to be a very one sided mode of communication. I mean, everyone has heard that words are like bullets, but no one will ever hear someone say that they are akin to morphine. Why is this? Why is it only the words that are scaled towards being unkind that are so powerful, when very often kind words will be ignored due to the situation? According to the general public, saying something mean or otherwise not politically correct is very similar to shooting or punching someone, in essence harming them in a physical manner. Yet has anyone told you that saying something nice will make rainbows appear and heal wounds? Of course not. Allow me to give you some brief, and admittedly over-exaggerated examples.
Your good friend is sick, and you decide to bring him/her a bunch of their favorite flowers. Aww, that is SO kind! Even better, you very gently set them into a beautiful vase, and carry them over to the nightstand next to your friend's sickbed. That is down right cute, huh? However, when delivering them, the words "I brought your goddamned flowers, what the hell else do you want?" slip out of that gaping crevice in your face. Oh no! According to the general populace, you have now completely destroyed any good those flowers may have done for our patient. Those words, uttered so cruelly, have now actually done more hurt to our sick friend. Now, allow me the converse to this example.
You come home from work one day to stumble upon your best friend, from next door, very gleefully and excitedly stabbing your beloved, adoring dog, man's best friend, in the throat with a very finely crafted picket from your own fence. As you, in a well deserved fury, rush over to the culprit, he looks up at you, abashed, and says "gee, I am so sorry, Jim. I mean, I do not know why I am doing this. You have always been such a good friend to me, and I have absolutely loved having you around as my neighbor. Oh, and I love your shirt." Did this little loving speech do any good what-so-ever? Of course it didn't! He killed your dog! Any kind words he just uttered have been lost to you, for you can think of nothing more than the horrible deeds he has done.
Now, is it just me that finds this the strangest bit odd? I mean, should not actions show more than words? Why is it that words are all so powerful and supreme when they are vocalized in a rude or other unkind manner, yet conversely powerless and weak to those using them in a gentle way? Should it not be one or the other? The answer is society. All of our lives, we have been told that words are like bullets. Should they not be equally effective, or ineffective, no matter how they are uttered?
Personally, I tend to think that words, no matter how they are said or what is meant by them, are overly powerful in our world. I have always had problems with the words are bullets philosophy, because why should they be given that power over us? We are human beings, the top of the food chain, and yet we are to succumb to mere utterances of others' thoughts? They are WORDS people, WORDS. We have put them on paper, learned to speak them, and now we are mastered by them? They are powerless, if only you choose to make yourself master over the words before they turn the table on you.
I suppose, I could just be fucked up. *shrug* You tell me.