How Words Can be the Most Powerful Thing in the World
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
This post originally ran here. However, I have more interaction with readers now then I did then, and to be honest, I find it so very perfectly appropriate for this outfit post. It has been updated and edited.
Ever since I was a little child, words have been very powerful to me. The simple sounds, the reactions, and the emotions provoked. Little sounds made my child ear tingle and as I learned the power of words, I began to discover a whole new world.
“Hey Mom!”
“What”
“Poop.”
This was usually followed by my mom chasing me around the living room threatening to wash my mouth out with soap (I was 3, after all). In fact, I did get to taste soap once because I said shit at church. I think that might have been the first time I really, truly began to understand that words had meaning. But I digress. Even now, as I try to be a writer, I think more and more of words... the echoes they create, the way some words can offend some and not others, the way words can tear you down of lift you up. Really, words can be the most beautiful pieces of art and are the most powerful weapons we possess.
Words can push our buttons, make our ears tingle, or spread joy. As I got older and into my late teens, I realized some words just sound… delicious. I can’t really think of a more fitting adjective, but do you know those words? The words that just sound beautiful and rich in your ears. Words that send a tingle down your spine. For me, one of those words has always been “photograph.” Even before I was [trying to be] into photography, there was something about the way it rippled out of the throat that made me want to shiver, yet left me feeling oddly satisfied. Another word is “rebellion.” I think it’s the way the almost “y” sound leaks through the air. Plus, I like the word “bell” so maybe that one is a double whammy. Either way, it’s something I've been noticing afresh lately – the way things sound and how it affects the mind and mood. Maybe appreciating the vibrations born into the air is healthy. Maybe it’s just weird. But sometimes, it feels good to appreciate something for no reason at all.
So tell me, do you have words that make you stop and think? Is anything delightfully rich as it echoes into your canals? Let me know!
Pictures of me taken by my brother. All others taken by me.
