The Power of Our Words

My daughter, who is in medical school, yesterday sent me a posting from one of her colleagues. It has had me thinking. The blog post she sent talked about how as a doctor he (the author) was learning about power- the power of a diagnosis, the power of a prescription, the power of trust that comes from patients putting their lives truly in someone else’s hands. But the turning point of his post is when he received a phone call. A simple phone call that requests information about one of his patients whose son is due to leave for Afghanistan. The father is dying. In a few carefully chosen words family leave was granted and the son flew to the west coast to be with his father. The doctor writing this post is young. A year or so older than my own daughter- possibly younger than the soldier. He clearly was overwhelmed by his personal ability to create change for this one family.

We have that same strength. Our words can create scare, tears, a sense of love and hope—whatever we want them to be. Words are our tools. They are the way we touch others. I am again and again struck by how rich it feels to put a book down that has totally engrossed me. How much I love to think about the characters who have shared my evening. How much they actually do create a change in my mood or my thoughts. Powerful stuff.

We do that every day. We race our fingers across the keyboard or across the printed page, creating stories that are about values, hopes, dreams, and danger. We save people and we kill off people. But, our messages are usually the same—individuals do make a difference. The small single person can roar like a lion. We are, each of us, truly important.

The best of Passover and Happy Easter to all. May your days be filled with a sense of connection to those around you.