Power

My intention was to write the following as just a quick little note, but as I got thinking about how I would present this thought, it got to be a little wordy, as is my downfall, and I decided that perhaps it warranted it’s own post.

I want to present my thoughts on the power of words. As kids on a playground often sing, the words “sticks & stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” comes to mind. Those words are wrong, flat out wrong. Words have the power to hurt much more intensely than a batted ball to the shin. They have the power to start lifelong feuds, the power to shove someone into a depression, the power to make an individual or group question their worth.

Words also have the power to inspire, to encourage great thinking and amazing ideas. They have the power to lift up, to help us through a difficult situation and to make us realize our worth as an individual or group. There is something in particular that has really made me start to think of this and I’m sure when I disclose it, there will be laughs, some people may stop reading and others will say “here she goes again.” But I urge you to continue on for just a few more paragraphs, it will all come together.

OK, here goes: Foo Fighters. Last month, I wrote a post entitled “I Am a River,” which described a 5K I ran in memory of a friend I lost to suicide and how the newest Foo album, Sonic Highways, helped me through that run. If you haven’t gotten a chance to read it, it’s worth a few minutes.

I’m really loving this band lately, I find Dave Grohl to be an amazingly talented musician & writer, and as days go by, he proves to be a pretty top-notch celebrity and overall person. After I ran my race and wrote my blog post on July 8th, I decided to finally watch the Sonic Highways TV series. If you’re not familiar with the show, the concept is this: the band travels to eight different cities to record eight songs for the album. Nothing is written and the hour-long show features interviews with musicians that defined the music in that particular city. At the end of the show, the boys sit down in a local studio and record their song. You can hear in the lyrics how the interviews and the history of the city they’re in have influenced these songs.

Now, I’m only a few episodes in, but this is such an amazing insight into how the song-writing and overall creative process works, at least for this band in particular. If you are a fan of the Foo Fighters, or of music in general, I do recommend you watch this series. But, let me get to the reason for all of this – it is to describe my realization that words can be made to mean what you need them to mean. They can mean what you want them to mean. I took an inspiring line or two from each song and grasped onto those thoughts in order to get me through an experience that was difficult for me. The words as they were written had absolutely nothing to do with the box I was placing them in for my own personal use.

Words as they are written are very often abstract and open to interpretation. I have personally written some things that can be perceived by different people on a different day in a different location in a completely different way than how I had intended them. One thing I will maintain is that my words are always meant for good. If you interpret something I write as having malice or hatred or inspiring ill will, then you have missed the mark. I think that is a good reason to take care or hold back on some topics and why some amazing writers and thinkers may be lurking in the background, bagging groceries, preparing your taxes or driving a bus. Words can inspire but they can be dangerous. The writer can only put his or her intentions and honest feelings into their words, but they can never dictate how they will be interpreted. I will give an example from the first Sonic Highways episode, recorded in Chicago. There is a line in the first song “Something from Nothing” that Dave sings “a button on a string …” Now, my interpretation, having no musical talent or knowledge except how to listen to it, would be that my husband just asked me to sew the button back on his shirt again because it’s hanging from the string.

That’s where my experience would bring me and encourage my appreciation of this song. It’s absolutely ridiculous, especially when you realize that he’s referring to the way a certain musician used to use household items to make music and literally used a button on a string to produce sound. That’s where your own experiences and your own interpretations place words into situations, connect them with feelings, help you navigate through hardships or remind you of amazing things that occurred. It’s okay that I had no idea what he meant until it was explained, what was important was that the intention was not lost. The intention to honor creativity and ingenuity. The positive intention. Now, sewing buttons is not nearly as cool and honorable, but it’s still the old-fashioned way that things need to be done. I’m sure many people will laugh when they get their hands on my interpretation, but that shows the power of words.

Choose the way you use your power but it is important that you realize you have it.