WORDS

The most important things are the hardest to say;  they are the thing we get ashamed of, because words diminish them.  

They seem limitless when they are in our head,  but are reduced to no more than living size when they're brought out.

But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important thoughts lie too close to wherever our secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure we're afraid some enemy will steal away.....

And, we make revelations that we fear may cost us dearly, and people may look at us in a funny way, not understanding what we've said, or why we thought it was so important that we almost cried while we were saying it.

That's the worst we think - that the "secrets" stay locked within us, because, in truth, every lonely, sorry thing you could think or feel is not nearly so treacherous once it is exposed to the light of understanding; not for the listener, but for the teller.

Words that bring us out of ourselves can give us more depth of understanding for ourselves and others and, with such a great reward,  can we really afford to hold back?  To use the excuse that there was no understanding ear to hear us is to delay our good, and to admit, finally, that we are living a life without value or purpose.....

Anyone can have bad thoughts, bad memories, and bad experiences, but in holding them back, are we not saying "I choose to live with the bad", and don't we all, eventually become what we hold to be true about ourselves.....

Sometimes we think that if someone really "knows" us, they won't like us, so we become afraid to tell them who we are.....  Words we have heard so often are just as true today: "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" - so, let others know what you are about, even if you are changing moment by moment, day by day.

Express it, let it be a part of another person, and then you can never say you were afraid to face yourself.  And, if someone thinks less of you, because of it, aren't you better off knowing just where you stand, and who your real friends are?

And, are you not only finding out about your true self, but also the best within those around you?  That alone, makes the journey of Wordsworth taking......

B.J. McCall

5/20/89

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