Words, I feel are more powerful than any weaponry mankind has the ability to make. And a saw pointed at you or a gigantic tank is not even going to be half as detrimental as, say, a bunch of reckless words. Ever heard of how the emotional pain can surpass the physical pain?
Words have the power to make or to break, since words will immediately surround us from our birth to this world, or languages which is made out of words. The same can be said about human relationships, and how the strongest of bonds may not stand the smallest of words. It doesn’t take much to break apart a relationship, a friendship, because all it takes is a word spread through the mouths of others to make that happen. It is a complicated thing, this whole human relationship thing, how people from different walks of life are supposed to come together and have a mutual understanding. I would suppose that is something none of us can ever say with full confidence that we have a strong grasp on. I’ve met so many different people throughout my life, and have had conflicts with almost every single one of them, one way or another, simply because I’m also not a perfectionist in it. But then again, I don’t suppose anybody can say that they are one, when have we not been in the same situation before?
I have come across a dozen different reasons why people might have had misunderstandings with one another, with me, or myself with somebody else. It all comes down to words being passed through a third party most of the time, and they are never very pleasant to the ears. Amplified and distorted, they usually become more dangerous than guns or knives, but it’s not entirely the fault of the third party involved either. I mean, as friends in a community, I do suppose it is a risk you have to take when saying a certain something to someone, a risk that involves the possibility of somebody else finding out. It is impossible to prevent, undeniably scary, and completely inevitable.
This reminds me of an incident a while back, a misunderstanding that was inevitable but yet expected.
I walked into the girls toilet in our school and overheard a conversation between two other girls that went like this;
Girl A: Did you hear about what happened with Seline? I thought she’d be different but she’s still a slut afterall.
Girl B: What about her? She’s nice to us you know.
Girl A: I heard she slept with this guy who actually paid her for it! The guy agreed to her pact to not leak out anything about it but you know, being man, he told his friends who obviously spread it. I wouldn’t think the guy had any reason to lie about this anyway.
So, that was the gist I just needed to share. To make matters worse, I am good friends with Seline. So hearing this about her came as a blow to me. Moreover, the news were spreading like fire and my other friends questioned me about it too. I didn’t know what to think of it and honestly, at that point in time, I had my doubts about her credibility. If I weren’t her good friend, I would have believed it readily. I decided to question her about it and I am so glad I did just that. She clarified matters with me and I realised that the guy had indeed spun a tale just because Seline had rejected his “offer”. From this incident, I learnt to always keep an open mind and never rush to conclusions based on our five senses alone and decipher our personal bias, like how my other friends failed to do so. There’s always the benefit of doubt! (:
