THE POWER OF WORDS

Where are the Clowns?, Internet Sphere
Love Topiary, London, England

A recent YouTube video clip illustrates the power of words that was created by an online company that uses words to enhance their customers’ web site content and get them noticed. It was based on “The Story of a Sign” by Alonso Alvarez Barreda. One of the first things that caught my attention was the fact that the clip had gone viral and had already been viewed over six and a half million times. An elderly man was sitting on a city square with an empty food can and simple cardboard sign that read “I’m blind. Please help”. He wasn’t getting much action from those passing by. Then a young woman in business attire stopped, wrote on the back of his sign and left. Soon, people were tossing lots of coins in the can. When the young woman returned, the blind man softly asked, “What’d you do to my sign”? She replied, “I wrote the same, only different words”. As she walked away the man thanked her and the camera slowly panned over to the new sign which read “It’s a beautiful day, but I can’t see it”. The final graphic read “Change your words. Change your world”.

I suppose most of us have lived long enough to understand the power of our words, especially those used in our day to day relationships with others. Kind words continue to echo long after they’re spoken. Words have the power to hurt and the power to heal. They have the power to demoralize and the power to inspire. They embrace the power to hate and the power to love. They have the power to teach lies and the power to instill eternal truth. And many times they are most potent when they are used judiciously or simply not spoken at all. It’s possible that the most powerful message we will ever deliver is the unspoken language of our life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzgzim5m7oU