Thursday, January 7, 2010

Words are Permanent

I graduated from high school in 1977. Although I can rarely remember where my sunglasses are, I have pretty clear memories of those days, which I don’t hesitate to share with my children. If I wanted to change the television channel, I had to walk across the room and turn the dial. Phones were attached to the wall by a cord, so all calls were taken in the kitchen or living room, where everyone could hear your conversations, and I learned to type on a manual typewriter.
I loved typing class. I enjoyed the steady noises produced by the tapping of the keys, using the carriage return lever to advance to the next line, and finally reading what I had typed. The worst part of typing class was correcting mistakes. Every wrong letter had to be completely erased, then retyped. When carbon paper was used to type multiple copies of a document, the mistake on every copy was individually corrected. The correction process caused me to become a careful typist.
About this time in my life, I read something that instantly struck me, and has stuck with me. It’s one sentence that has corralled many of my conversations. “Don’t say anything that you wouldn’t write down, and sign your name to.” Have I always lived by that? Of course not. But the times when I have spoken too much have produced regret that I would love to live without.
Sticks and stones may break bones, but words can really hurt, too. They can hurt my friends, my spouse, and my children. After a conversation, I sometimes think, What if the last words I said to them were the last words they ever heard me say? Regardless of how lively our conversations become, I want them to end well, with no misunderstandings, or doubt of my love.
Erasing a mistake in typing class was nothing compared to trying to take back words. Although invisible, spoken words can never really be erased. That fact should make me think very carefully before I speak.

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