“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” My Mom repeated that thousands of times to us as we were growing up. It is the only bit of her motherly advice that I disagree with.
Perhaps it is because I am such a passionate writer that I am sensitive about language, spoken and written. During the past year I received correspondence from someone close to me that proved Mom wrong; someone who once matched my level of joy, love and compassion; the ideal partner in play. We had rekindled a lifelong friendship that resulted in a blending of our families, spending our time basking in the joy of bringing our children through their teen years teaching them our values and all about the importance of relationships. Leading by example through laughter, love and life.
And then things changed unexpectedly starting with lies, a betrayal, which resulted in a meeting with someone whose language I had never been exposed to and didn’t speak or understand that included cruel words and stories of neglect and threats to me and about my partner. This spiraled into broken promises. The last correspondence I received from him was a text in response to a kind gesture I had extended. It was clearly written by someone with disdain in his heart for me. And even in the deepest parts of my soul where I sometimes helplessly grope to find peace with how he made the transition to caring about me to hating me, I can’t know the answers to why, because they are his. Although I quickly deleted the message, reading those words nearly destroyed me. Carved in my mind as if by a dagger, they still cause pain when I think of them. I want to leave them behind here with a lesson. From my experience, words can and do hurt others.
Every once in awhile as I am cherishing life, walking the beach or in the woods or in the moonlight, I remember the loving essence of my playmate and wish for a special person to enjoy those moments with me as we once did. Yet because of the memory of his parting words, I choose not to take the risk, placing my trust only in my inner self, nature and the Universe. They know nothing of unkind words or gestures, so they are a reliable resource for me to give my heart. The sun, moon and stars are always there to laugh with and to guide me and assure me that all is well. I could not find permanence with that in the human world.
What I can do is live it by being true to my word and a trustworthy human beacon to others, so I shall. I have been gifted with a talent for writing, and I vow to use that to express kindness, good words and messages of hope to others. In my time with my playmate, I discovered the gift of eternal unconditional love which I will pass on through my words and teach others to do the same through Capture Life Writing. I believe that by my doing that, the thoughts of those daggered words will disappear. Mom did have another saying, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” That’s more like what I aspire to share.
In the wee first hours of this brand new year, I woke up to the full moon’s reflected sunlight splashed across my bedspread promising good things for the coming year. And when I woke up this morning it was to a crisp beautiful blue sky. I hereby declare 2018 the year of spreading kind words and fun. I can’t wait to write about it.
Happy New Year Everyone! With Love.
