I'd like you to watch the video below. It's short, I promise.
Okay, first off go dry your eyes.
Now then, this one video holds a lot of meaning for me. There's the power to help someone in need when we can, and the effect it can have. But I'm here to focus on the very title of the video and this post.
Words hold more power than most of us realize. As a writer, I understand this more than most. What we say, what we post, what we write down in a letter, each word holds great magic in them. The trick is using them right.
We always hear about how the wrong words can cause unmeasurable harm. While very true, lost in that is the opposite. The truth that words can bring just as much good too. Thus what we say can easily turn someone's moment, mood, even life.
As an author, this is a responsibility I must and do take very seriously. I often work on not just what to say, but how best to say it. There's the old mantra "show, don't tell", but it's not always so easy. How do I show it? how do I covey the power of the moment to my readers?
You need only look above. This woman said the same thing, but the way she said it conveyed so much more. In one sentence, she was able to make a connection. It triggers an immediate emotion from those who read it. "You know, it is a nice day isn't it?" Then they see the rest of it. Instantly the mind works. "Wow. Poor guy. Must be blind, which means he really can't see or enjoy this wonderful day. I've got some spare change. Maybe that will improve his day." And for those of us watching, we get to see just how selfless and caring this one woman was.
All done in one sentence.
That my friends is awesome writing. Conveying so much, so fast, and so completely. And just look what it did! Real or not, it created a moving moment that's been seen by 20 MILLION people. Would it have gone that way had she simply dropped him a large check? I doubt it. Taken him someplace where he would get cared for? Maybe, but I again suspect it wouldn't have hit so hard or so well.
Real or not, someone understands the true power words have in our world. Writers of all kinds understand it. It's how we do what we do. But everyone should learn to use that power well. If it could do that for a single blind man, how much more could we do with it?
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