Revealing Words

Back when I was a freshman in high school, my homeroom teacher wrote a saying on the blackboard (they were really BLACK back then!) each week. It would be some pithy saying that we could reflect on for the duration until she placed another one before us.

The only one I recall after all these years went something like this: "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt." Although I have probably violated this more than a few times in my life, the message remains embedded in my memory forever.

Reflecting on these words today, several points come to my mind. First of all, we live in a world where we are bombarded by words every waking moment. Whether from radio, TV, computer, billboards, ipods, cell phone, home phone, email, texting, or whatever the latest gizmo for communicating might be, to say nothing of the voices of people around us every day. All this noise serves to render words very cheap and therefore easily ignored. Rather than facilitating communication, words tend to clog the arteries of interaction by their shear numbers.

Secondly, the words we do use reveal ourselves to others whether we want them to or not. Our chosen verbiage creates a small window to our heart, our spirit. If that verbiage smacks of loss of control, or reflects smallness of heart, or displays minimal intelligence, how can we expect to have a positive influence on those around us? On the other hand, if my words reveal humor, caring, joy, sensitivity to those around me, how much better off the world will be from my passing through it.

I wonder sometimes what my own words sound like to others. If I stop to listen to myself, what is it I hear? How do I sound? What is the message that others receive? Would I be farther ahead to heed the words of my high school homeroom teacher?