Words: Your Weapon of Choice

"Every time you meet another human being, you have the opportunity. It's a chance at holiness. For you will do one of two things. either you will build him up, or you will tear him down. Either you will acknowledge that he is, or you will make him sorry that he is...You will create or you will destroy. And the things that you dignify or destroy are God's own property."

--Walter Wangerin

Social media has been particularly cruel these past few days. It's ironic (and not in the funny, ha-ha sort of way) that in the wake of violence, we have chosen more violence. Not with gunfire, but with the power of words, have we continuously committed violent acts against one another in the days that have followed the shooting in Connecticut.

Unanswered speculation will continue as to how calculated or thoughtless the shooter was regarding his weapon choice that day. But we have one very powerful option that he lacked that day: a 'delete' button. 

 

Perhaps it is easier to verbally assault one another than it is to face the raw emotion that surfaces when we think of 20 children who won't see another Christmas. It is our own outrage that causes us to attack one another over the endless accessibility to each other that social media allows for.

We all want answers; I understand that. But we can be assured that we won't ever find them amidst our cruel words to one another. If the 'pen is mightier than the sword,' then greater attention should be paid to the words we choose in the face of such violence then to the unanswerable questions regarding its origin. 

Debates are okay. Arguments are understandable. Good things can come from people who disagree and are willing to each have their minds opened/changed. But I hope that we remember that with each status update or article posted, we have the opportunity to 'dignify or destroy' human life. 

 

Enough lives have been destroyed recently. In the face of such violence, let us choose words that offer life.