Words and Silence.

Words.

I’m thinking about words this morning.

There’s a lot to think about when it comes to words.

Here’s what I’ve got so far:

Everyone always says: “Actions speak louder than words” (including myself).

BUT I think as humans we tend to latch onto words much more than actions.

Our first response to something is generally with words. Actions usually follow what the words meant…or sometimes didn’t mean.

Words may not have any direct physical power, they are intangible, they are inanimate, and yet words can kill. Words are lethal. Words are dangerous, and their effects can be much more lasting, and impressionable than any physical action.

WORDS   MOVE   US.

We are surrounded by words. Our world is made of them.

Tree. Sun. Sky. Umbrella. Deck. Table. Chair. Napkin. Tile. Plant. Lazy Suzan. Counter. Granite. Cookie Jar. Cookies. Yum. Yes. Please. Thank you. Grass. Cotton. Allergies. Sneeze. Bless you. Bless you. Bless you. Allergies. Spatula. Wooden Spoon. Run. Laugh. Silly. Fun. Chair. Kleenex. Exhaustion. Tears. Sad. Frustration. Hurt. Pain. Hope.

Road. Drive. Plane. Fly. Escape. Grow. Heal. Love.

Red. Cow. Up. Left. Cat. Purple. Angel. Brass. Dirt.

We create spaces with our words. We can tell stories, we can tell jokes, we can say meaningless things just because we feel like it. We like to define ourselves with words. Songs, scripts, plays, books, monologues, quotes, signs, blogs, journals, social media posts, letters, emails, notes, lists, planners, phone calls, text messages, any kind of messages, and face to face conversations. We are using our words to shape, define, and fill our world and those who are, or are not, in it.

A life lived in fear is a life half lived.

To have loved and lost is better than to not have loved at all.

I have a dream

A divided house cannot stand

Change is coming

With every door that closes, a window opens

Love comes when you least expect it

A dream is a wish your heart makes

I pledge allegiance to the flag

Oh say can you see

Let it be

All you need is love

Keep calm and….whatever

It has been my experience however, that most times it is not the words that can hurt us the most, but the lack of words. The silence. The stillness. The frozen space of time. The nothing.

This is when our souls can ache most of all, when our hearts can hold on for so long until they finally break. This is the arena of exhausted hope, of determination’s death, of ghosts and hauntings, of nightmares and desperate wishes, of anger and longing, of betrayal.

Silence.

Whether it’s the extended and unknown silence of an old friend, the hurt and stubborn silence of a lover, the defiant silence of a teenager, the silence that is occasionally broken by ill attempts of reconciliation, the silence within a family fractured by anger, the silence of defeat, the silence in the truth behind lies, the silence of astonishment, the silence of death, or the silence of final and ultimate betrayal…silence slices through us in a way its counterpart, words, cannot.

Silence.

Shhhh….can you hear it?

I can.

If I am still long enough, and focus hard enough on the silence, I can tell you exactly what I hear. I can tell you exactly what I feel. I can feel the silence moving, after all even silence has substance.

In fact I could take you directly back to the most profound moment of silence I have yet to experience. The defining moment, the most significant, the most powerful of silences…the silence that trumps it all…the Great Silence, one could say.

Do any of you have places like that?

Do they inhibit any of the rooms in your heart, in your mind, in your soul?

Do they haunt you?

Does the silence keep you looking over your shoulder as you walk through the streets, making sure there’s no chance for it to be broken, because it has turned into your shield, your protection…even your strength?

Has your silence been by choice, or by exile?

Whether you chose this silence for yourself, or others inflicted it upon you…what words are you holding back?

What story are you keeping to yourself?

What voice is hiding within you, waiting for its time to be heard?

That’s the tricky thing about silence, it can only last for so long…sooner or later your story has to be heard…sooner or later the words will come…sooner or later the words will arise…sooner or later the weight of the silence will burn away, you will stand upon your renewed strength, you will stand upon your words, and you will find your voice.

Words.

Words are dangerous. They can give. They can take. They can be manipulated and skewed. They can be used. They can be flung and thrown, they can direct and create, they are living all around us waiting for our mouths or our fingers to push them into action.

Words, they can crush. And even worse, waiting on words that never come, drowning in silence, can completely destroy.

Silence. This kind of silence, it preys on those thrown down, it lies with injustice and it laughs at accountability. It is very aware of its power.

It’s the kind of silence that kept Edmond Dantès wrongfully incarcerated in the Château D’If for more than two decades (The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas).

It’s the kind of silence that blackmails, that threatens, that smiles manically at defeat.

But.

Only because of this silence is Edmond Dantès motivated to learn to fight, to become educated, to execute his own escape from prison, and to exact his revenge.

This is the silence that comes before justice, before man is called to move in all his greatness, swiftly and confidently towards his deliverance.

This is the silence before the underdog takes it all, before the downtrodden find their voices, before “Do you hear the people sing?” is sung (Les Misérables by Victor Hugo), before the rebellion has begun, before the revolution explodes…

This is the silence that, when it ends, the noise it creates, the shouting voice it expels, and the words, which explode from within, will never let you forget it.  

Keep on truckin'

C.M.S 

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