They're Only Words, and Words Are All I Have

If you don't recognize the title of this blog, review your ancient Bee Gee's history.

"Choose your words wisely." - Traditional

"Think before you speak." - Traditional

"The heart of the righteous weighs its answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil."  - Biblical proverb

"Those who guard their mouths and their tongues keep themselves from calamity." - Biblical proverb

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt." - attributed to Abraham Lincoln, and others

“Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.” - Benjamin Franklin

“He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.” - Confucius

“Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.” - Plato

          I have always had a great respect and admiration for wordsmiths. Not those who use their skills for deceit or self-promotion, but those who use the eloquent arrangement of words to communicate important truths, or to inspire others to be better, or to offer consolation to the hurting or grieving, or to create unity out of divisiveness. When I study those who in the past have done such things, one common trait seems to connect them. No matter the passion with which the words might be delivered, they were arranged and constructed with a great deal of forethought, which often included study and counsel. Abraham Lincoln was, in the prime of his political career, not considered a particularly eloquent speaker, but his words resonated, and when read decades later flow with meaning, with passion, with purpose, and with eloquence. When he prepared to speak in a venue where his words would be recorded and reported and remembered, he took great caution to say exactly what he intended to communicate; no more, no less. As President, it was his practice to allow his aides and cabinet members (sometimes even those who were his rivals) to review the words he planned to use in a public or political forum before he used them. He is just one example of an individual whose words, along with his actions, have impacted the world, and inspired generations.

  I'm going to violate good journalist principles and provide quotes without attribution, just to give examples of the difference thoughtful eloquence makes in communication

"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

"When I consider the magnitude of the subject which I am to bring before the House - a subject, in which the interests, not of this country, nor of Europe alone, but of the whole world, and of posterity, are involved: and when I think, at the same time, on the weakness of the advocate who has undertaken this great cause - when these reflections press upon my mind, it is impossible for me not to feel both terrified and concerned at my own inadequacy to such a task."

"But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the worn threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline"

So, the first quote is from an inaugural address by a President who wrote his own speeches. He was trying to bring a country together that was sharply divided.

The second quote was by a British member of the House of Commons who was passionately trying to end the slave trade.

The third was from a famous speech by a civil rights leader who was fighting for rights, but determined to do it in a nonviolent way.

These are just very short examples, but they make me sad when I compare them to so much of what I hear now. The modern battle to end political correctness in speech seems to have ended correctness in all of its forms. If I had children (and in a sense I consider myself to have about 300 of them), I would want the political, social and religious leaders of my community, my state, my nation, and the world to speak with well thought out, well crafted language, so as to model for the next generation a standard of thought, a standard of speech, a respect for the rules of language, and a regard for the integrity of communication. Those with whom I might not agree will have my ear and my attention, even if not my heart and mind, when they demonstrate a commitment to communicate with thoughtful eloquence, in as much as they are able, and not with spontaneous, reactive,and thoughtless hubris.