The Power in Words

Whenever I see words of great men etched onto a wall, a tombstone or a memorial in the form of quotes. And when I watch people extract meaning out of them, it makes my skin crawl. I can’t help but wonder that what made these men utter such words of wisdom, was it only the ability to be able to dictate their experiences in a sophisticated form which attracted people who understood the depth of those words? Because a writer only writes what he knows and a speaker only speaks what he knows. These are just like vignettes organized to be presentable and for the masses to appreciate. This leads me to think whether my words carry the weight of people’s emotions up to such an extent that I would also be quoted one day.
Words are the connecting medium between all of us. They connect the living to the dead, the existent to the extinct, the real to the mythological, humans to God and vice versa. Even God Almighty communicates with man through his undeniable words, which are present in the form of books in our world like the Holy Quran and the Bible. We often hear examples of people, who after researching a great deal, are enlightened and change their way of life. The right words at the right time can not only alter one’s mood but also change the course of their destiny. But there’s a slight catch here, the words need to resonate perfectly with the person’s mindset, otherwise the effectiveness of words, however meaningful they may be, is damped like an oscillating mass spring system in real conditions.
However, some factors can change that. The way in which words are uttered or the choice of vocabulary, the sentence structure, explanation through examples but the most important of all is being “persistence”. Well that is what Naruto teaches us by his infamous “Talk-no jutsu” (reference for Naruto fans only). Holding your ground can make miracles happen. The human mind has such a spontaneous and unpredictable response paradigm, that you never know what can tip it off or tone it down. It’s like if you keep emphasizing non-stop, even the lie becomes the truth, the other person starts to see your side of the picture and if you can gather enough people to agree with you, you can run for president in the elections of your state. I grieve over my inability to further summarize the importance of words due to the lack of words in my thesaurus and the unavailability of space.
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

(Martin Luther King Jr.)

Moreover, an amazing point is that everything matters; if something doesn't matter to you it might matter to someone else because nothing is worthless. The ability to speak our minds through words shapes up our existence. Leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Mao Tse Tung are remembered by their words which motivated people to follow them to the end.
Another vital point to consider is that there are two kinds of arguments. One of them is stating the obvious and the other one is highlighting the obscure. Well, this leads us to another argument that what might be obvious to one, might be vague to others, depending on the intellectual prowess. But for the sake of simplicity, let me be very discrete. It’s highlighting the hidden that makes people want to follow you. Being able to relate situations, connect the dots that might not even be there and extracting meaning out of seemingly meaningless things, for the cause of betterment by translating the stirrings of everyone into words, like the voice of many becoming one. Merely by using words, the ability to clear one’s mind leading them to make accurate decisions is its own form of art. Igniting one’s spirit or to motivate them to achieve greatness i.e. becoming an enabler has its own perks. I for one like to believe that one day, my words would ignite the soul of a future generation, my philosophies would be pursued by others and one day, when I’d be stuck between the gates of heaven and hell, a voice would become my salvation saying, “This man’s words changed my life”.