Words

I am not following the Impeachment Trial, but I am bothered by the choice of words being used by both sides and easily gleaned from the headlines of all publications.  Words can hurt, words can heal, words can change the course of progress and words can face us towards a better future.  Last week, we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr Day, a holiday to celebrate a man who had an enormous impact and is memorialized by his “I Have a Dream” speech.  Juxtaposing a speech to inspire against speeches meant to incite fear and misdirection, it caused me to pause and reflect on how we speak and the words we use.

I have been fascinated by some of the influential speeches given by our forefathers, speeches that had the ability to convey heavy messages, provided context and imagery, presented in a highly complex language structure consisting of compound sentences and using, at time archaic words, to present their purposes to a young Republic.  Either this is the way they thought, or most likely, they took some serious time to compose the messages that they wished to deliver.  We live in an age of elevator pitches and conveying internet messages in 140 characters soundbites, now expanded to 280.  Yes, we live in a fast food world, where certain internet tools have helped to bring “fast food thinking” to the way we communicate.  While there are cases of this helping to provide a forum on world events, we now have terms like cyber-bullying where we can verbally attack someone or something and have an instant audience.

Truth be damned!  The quicker we get information out; the quicker people will react and respond.  Fact checking?  If you get your point out there quick enough, by the time the facts come to light, people have already accepted the “fake news” as the truth.  It seems like this mentality has bled into many other areas of life.  In 2005, a prominent news anchor left his job in disgrace over presenting a story as true, that ended up not being fact checked and was ultimately “fake news.”  Today, there are those who use these words, in most cases planned and well thought out, to appeal to the court of public opinion, where facts seemingly do not matter.  People are found guilty in the court of public opinion way before they stand trial, where we are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. 

We the people have seemingly enabled these actions to perpetuate, as we purchase the printed news, listen / watch the stations that embrace this and worse yet, continue to elect officials who perpetuate this.  “My representative” should be exactly that – I will gladly vote against those who do not meet my ideals (party does not always matter).  As we head into the next political cycle, it will be interesting to see if anything does change, or will we maintain as usual.  Words are important – what we say, what we write and the meaning / motivation behind them.  How powerful are words?  On November 19, 1863, a 2-minute speech was given, that was less than 275 words, amongst a full program, including other famous speakers.  That short oration?  The Gettysburg Address given by our great President, Abraham Lincoln.  Sandwiched amidst the presentation of the day, it has more than stood the test of time, driven a nation to becomes its best and still stands as an inspiration.  Remember what good, positive words can lead us towards as you communicate with others.