The Power of Words

It is often said that words can be more powerful than any weapon. Today, Cydni and Sher take a deeper look into this truth. Sher teaches us this lesson by using the history of John Brown and Frederick Douglass. Throughout history, people have used words to uplift and tear down, heal and harm, and spread love and hate. Our words can affect us and everyone around us. Today, Cydni and Sher dive into how words have affected our history and affect us today. Today’s episode is “The Power of Words,” and we are so glad you are here.

This Week's Challenge
If our challenge for you to write a poem that changes the course of history doesn’t sit well with you, we offer you a second option. We challenge you to write a note, text, or email to someone this week. It is true that words can destroy someone’s day, but they can also make someone’s day as well. We challenge you to make someone’s day with your words.

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Show Notes

Drip-Drip Drop, Words and  Music by  Matt Hoiland
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Transcript

Sher: 0:02

This is Cydni and I'm Sher, and each week we get together to share with you a message of hope it is through our own study and our personal experiences that we offer the reminder to not only seek the light but be the light, you can find peace and there is hope.

Cydni: 0:16

And as long as one of us is slightly caffeinated, there will be laughter. Today's episode is the power of words.

Speaker 3: 0:31

And we're so glad you're here.

Sher: 0:33

All right. Today,Cydni, why don't you go ahead and explain to us what we're talking about?

Cydni: 0:36

Thank you because I have a riddle to get us going. I wrote this by myself. Oh, I'm so excited by stealing a little bit of words from people, but overall it was written by myself.

Cydni: 0:45

Okay, try to answer this question. What can hurt you, heal you, inspire, motivate or defeat you, but also can change your life, educate, humor or embarrass you. What is one thing that could do all of those things? I don't want you to think of our topic that's already been mentioned, maybe say the wrong answer. So people who are like what could it be? Oh gosh, what could it be? Children I'm saying children because mine's already texted me. I told you he would. I told you.

Sher: 1:13

Well, since I just said it, I'm going to go with words. It's words, jer, I got it Ding, ding, ding, ding.

Cydni: 1:25

Yeah, it's words. Words can do all of these things. I really love this topic because I love words and I love to talk and I love to read audio books. But I was thinking, well, no, this is science, that words that you say, think or read will change the way that you feel. Do you believe it? I do believe it.

Sher: 1:38

I'm a believer. We'll do an experiment anyway.

Cydni: 1:41

Okay, we got to prove science.

Sher: 1:42

You can't just say you believe, so I should say I'm doubtful, I don't know Sydney, I'm kind of a doubter.

Cydni: 1:48

Oh, that's okay, we could do an experiment. All right, I'll say some words and take note Bring awareness. Okay, I'm ready. Peace, love, gratitude, joy, hope, happiness, fun, humor, brightness, faith, family how did those make you feel I feel good? It makes me feel happy. It feels good, right? Yeah, you're doing good. Now what about this? You, son of a biscuit eater, you, fanny pack wearing minivan mom, that's me. That's I just described myself. I'm gonna do one more.

Sher: 2:23

You dried lip. I just put on Burt's bees. That's why she said that.

Cydni: 2:34

Can't laugh.

Sher: 2:34

These words are making you feel bad. You dried lip Coke Zero drinking loony, so I know that you did that to make me feel bad, but since you weren't serious in any of it, it actually just made me laugh. But if you really said that to me, I would be angry and I can throw down with the best of them. I've been in the battlegrounds in middle school for years, so you've got nothing on me.

Cydni: 2:50

Cydni, that's true. Honestly, those words made me feel happier than well and family.

Sher: 2:55

Because you're being a smart aleck. So there goes the experiment. I think we get the point of what Cydni was trying to do, but she just couldn't quite pull it off.

Cydni: 3:05

But I could say this that it is true that words can change the way that you feel, and it happened right now because we were being so ridiculous, which is fun. But if people do say negative things to you, it can completely change your day, and you dealt with that with middle schoolers and I deal with it with three children who have different moods every four seconds, and myself. But it causes chaos, or joy it does. Words can do so many things. We know this, but have we thought about it lately? Have you been aware of what you're thinking, what you're saying, what you're reading, what you're listening to? Because it can really affect us and it's such a simple thing to forget.

Sher: 3:43

I agree, and one of the reasons that we wanted to do this topic is that Sydney and I have been talking about all the chaos that's been going on in the United States and around the world lately and we were just wondering about how much is happening because of the way we speak to one another, because it's so easy just to talk crap now about somebody and do it anonymously on social media and say really rude things that you would never dare say in front of a person if they were standing in front of you, but because it's on a computer screen or on your phone, it seems a lot easier. And then it's more fun and you're like ha ha, look, I got that zinger in when it's really hurtful and mean Right, Because you think there's no consequences when it's anonymous.

Cydni: 4:22

But there are consequences, not only to the person you're saying terrible things to, but there's consequences because you're allowing those thoughts to get into your mind and it creates who you are and it affects other people.

Sher: 4:35

Absolutely so. It's impacting yourself. It's impacting people around you. In Ephesians, chapter 4, verses 29 through 32, it says Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the Ephesians, chapter 4, verses one to another tenderhearted forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. When I read that, it was like a throat punch to me, a realization that I need to do better. I can be more kind and I can be more tenderhearted and more forgiving. As it says, I can let no corrupt communication proceed out of my mouth, which I need to do more of.

Cydni: 5:24

Right, and I heard that if you are so tempted to have corrupt words come out of your mouth, you should be silent. But I thought what does that person know? And I stopped listening to the rest of that TED Talk. Why would you want to be silent?

Sher: 5:37

Tell me a woman to remain silent. I think you missed the point there, sydney, but that's okay. Elder Holland explained that our words, like our deeds, should be filled with faith, hope and charity, the three great Christian imperatives so desperately needed in the world today. With such words, spoken under the influence of the Spirit, tears can be dried, hearts can be healed, lives can be elevated, hope can return, confidence can prevail. This is the power of what words can do. They can literally dry tears, heal hearts, elevate lives, bring hope and confidence. We have a lot of power to tear down or heal, destroy or bring hope, all with the power of our words, which, when you think about it, is really overwhelming. That shows how much power that we as individuals have over our words that we say to ourselves. That shows how much power that we as individuals have over our words that we say to ourselves, as well as the words that we say and put out there to others.

Cydni: 6:31

I really like that. It reminded me of speaking of the chaos in the world. I think that there is such a thing right now where people feel they get a pass to say things because of their history or their culture, that they can say things to other people. And I was listening to an interview with Maya Angelou, who she was asked a few years ago when a coach was fired because he said a racist comment to one of the black female basketball players on his team and he was fired. So the interviewer asked her hey, do you think that this was worse that he said that because he was a white man? And I thought her response was really profound. She said absolutely not.

Cydni: 7:11

Vulgarity is vulgarity. The vulgarity that comes out of a black mouth or a white mouth or an Asian mouth is still vulgarity. I like this coming from her. I like it coming from her because of her history. You understand that she means what she says and you understand that she's been through so many things. To be able to speak to this means a lot, because when she was seven, she was attacked by a man who took advantage of her and she told people what had happened, this terrible situation that took place, and the man was arrested. But then the man was set free and then the man was found dead. And she said she remembered sitting on the floor hearing a police officer tell her family what had happened, how the man was found. She said at seven and a half years old, my words are so powerful that me speaking killed a man. That's how she interpreted it. So she stopped speaking at that age because she thought her words killed a person and she didn't want to. So she kept silent for years because of it.

Cydni: 8:11

And I was listening to a TED talk where the guy said you could absolutely destroy someone's life in 30 seconds with words. So I went to the street to see if that was true. Imagine this, cher. Here I was walking down the street and I saw a man and I was like, excuse me, sir, you'll never amount to anything. And then I saw a woman and I was like hey, lady, yellow is not your color. And then I saw some children and I was like hey, kids, you're the reason your parents are on the verge of divorce. Guess what? It's true, it ruined all of their lives and that day. So she's right and the study was right I just feel trapped right now.

Sher: 8:47

Can somebody please come help me Take it away, cher? Okay, I just want to make it clear, sydney. Yeah, you found out that words really do hurt.

Cydni: 8:56

Well, through an experiment.

Sher: 8:58

Right, it was all just for science. We're back to science again.

Cydni: 9:01

Because I do love science.

Sher: 9:02

We're back to loving it. I just want to let everyone know, Sydney, did you really do that Of?

Cydni: 9:07

course not. I Googled mean things people say, because I had no idea and so I couldn't even bring myself to read some of them. They were so mean. There was like a list of 30 from Google and I couldn't even bring myself to say it. I would like to say that the one about the yellow is because my grandma said that to me once and I still remember it and I just never wear yellow. She said, sydney, yellow is not your color. While I was wearing a yellow shirt that I loved and I was like thanks, grandma, I love my grandma so much, but she did not love yellow on me, so it's okay, it's fine, I'm over it.

Sher: 9:37

So there was an example of how words hurt and Sydney's still bitter about it, so I'm not bitter, I'm better.

Sher: 9:42

And I'm glad Sydney's acting like this, because it reminded me of one of the lessons that I would teach my students about Frederick Douglass and John Brown. And this is just me. I'm not a famed historian, I'm just an eighth grade teacher trying to make my students think a little bit. So this is not peer reviewed, but I think it will get the point across about how much words matter.

Sher: 10:00

Both John Brown and Frederick Douglass are seen as heroes right before the Civil War started, and during the Civil War era they were friends with each other, and they were both abolitionists. Their tactics, though, were very, very different. John Brown he wanted to free the slaves. He was an abolitionist, so he hid slaves. He helped with the Underground Railroad, then he moved to Kansas, and when he got to Kansas, there was a lot of shenanigans going on there, and an abolitionist was killed, and John Brown wanted revenge, and so he, along with some of his sons and a few neighbors, went and kidnapped five slave owners, and they got swords and axes, and they dismembered them, and then they murdered them. So now slave owners? Now what do they get to say about these abolitionist men? That abolitionists are murderers and not just a regular murderer. They dismembered people and then shot them in the head. They get to say all of these things about people that had a good and righteous cause because of their actions.

Sher: 11:02

Well, it doesn't stop there. He and his sons, plus a few others, decided to start a slave revolt in Virginia. And, on a side note, slaves had tried this before. It's not like they just were passive and wanted to stay slaves. They did try to rebel, they did try to revolt, and every single time that happened the hammer came down so hard and they were all killed and executed. And it didn't just stop with the people that were involved in the revolt. They killed their family members as well. So they were putting the lives of their children and their wives and their mothers and their fathers in danger by rebelling, and so it stopped it because they didn't want to hurt other people in their lives. So I don't understand why John Brown thought this was a good idea. But he did. He thought it would be a good idea to try to start a slave revolt in Virginia.

Sher: 11:47

He went to Harper's Ferry Now it's in West Virginia, but at the time it was in Virginia. He took over a federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry. He kidnapped several prominent citizens in Harper's Ferry. Six of them ended up being killed, and 10 people of his own group, including his sons, were killed and John Brown? As a result, he got arrested and he's hung as a traitor, as he should have been, because he just attacked a federal arsenal and killed some of our soldiers. So that's what happens when you do that.

Sher: 12:18

So now, what do the slave owners get to say about abolitionists? Not only are they murderers that dismember people, but they're rebellious traitors against our country. So tell me, how did this help? How did any of that help any of the cause for the slaves or abolitionist movement? It didn't. It didn't help anything. All it did was make the divide deeper and greater.

Sher: 12:39

On the other side, we have Frederick Douglass, and I've talked about Frederick Douglass before. He was a runaway slave. His owner's wife, remember, taught him how to read, until his owner found out that his wife was doing this. He got really mad and his master said to Frederick Douglass that his wife was doing this. He got really mad and his master said to Frederick Douglass and his wife if he learns to read the Bible, it will forever unfit him to be a slave. He should know nothing but the will of his master and learn to obey it. And this is going to fuel Frederick Douglass to learn, because he learned from those awful words that his master said to him that knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave. And so Frederick Douglass wanted to learn and learn more. He was self-educated, he wrote books, he started his own newspaper. He went on speaking tours. He's using his words to try to change hearts and minds as an abolitionist. Now remember, john Brown and Frederick Douglass were friends. They have different tactics when it comes to being abolitionists. John Brown tried to get Frederick Douglass to help him with the slave revolt and Frederick Douglass said no because, as he put it, it was a still trap. He knew it was going to fail. He knew what was going to happen.

Sher: 13:47

What Frederick Douglass chose to do instead of choosing to take over a federal arsenal and dismember people, he focused on who we once were as a country. Now, obviously, he was a slave in this country. When he started out, he didn't like the United States of America. He was very angry about the slavery that was happening in this country. But then, remember, he self-educated, he started reading and learning and he realized that as a country, we were off. We had gone away from our founding and he realized that we needed to reset and go back to what the founders and what our founding documents said.

Sher: 14:26

And from that moment on he started to try to do everything he could with his words, through his writing, by speaking, he was trying to bring Americans back to their founding. He said things like this I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring bolt to the chain of your nation's destiny. So indeed I regard it. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes and at whatever cost. He also said about our founders they believed in order, but not in the order of tyranny. With them, nothing was settled that was not right. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were final, not slavery and oppression. He also said about our founders they seized upon eternal principles and set a glorious example of their defense. Mark them. And finally, one more quote about them. He said, and with sublime faith in the great principles of justice and freedom, they laid deep the cornerstone of the national superstructure. So he's bringing back to Americans the reason that this country was founded. He wanted to bring Americans back to that.

Sher: 15:38

Now let's compare this. How is this helping Compare what John Brown did to the words that I just read of Frederick Douglass? What were the slave owners going to say back to Frederick Douglass? They couldn't say he was a murderer. They couldn't say that he was a traitor. They couldn't say that he was an axe murderer None of those things. He was everything a slave owner hated, and he stood up to them with his words, and they helped change the United States of America and its direction. He also helped to turn Abraham Lincoln.

Sher: 16:08

When Lincoln was first put into office, his number one priority and goal was to save the United States of America, to save the Union. That didn't sit well with Frederick Douglass, who knew there was a deeper and higher purpose to this war, and so at first the two clashed. But as time went on, through Frederick Douglass' help and influence Abraham Lincoln, his eyes were opened and he started to understand that there was a deeper purpose to this war. Douglas became a trusted friend and an advisor. At the Freedom Monument dedication in Washington DC, it was Frederick Douglass who dedicated that.

Sher: 16:43

This is what he said about Abraham Lincoln, but dying as he did, die by the red hand of violence, killed, assassinated, taken off without warning. Not because of personal hate for no man who knew Abraham Lincoln could hate him but because of his fidelity to union and liberty. He is doubly dear to us and his memory will be precious forever. Fellow citizens, I end as I began, with congratulations. We have done a good work for our race today in doing honor to the memory of our friend, our liberator, we have been doing highest honors to ourselves and those who come after us.

Sher: 17:23

Frederick Douglass, again, he was everything that a slave owner didn't like, and he was everything a slave owner said was impossible. And he used his gift and his power of words to prove his point. He didn't use his fist, he didn't go hack people to death. So how did this help America? America needed to reset, to get back to simple, godly truths that are unchanging, and Frederick Douglass was part of that, of the men and women that refounded and reset this country. He did this by using his words. That is the power that's found in words. It literally changed the hearts of America and brought us back to our founding.

Sher: 18:02

The reason I wanted to talk about this is we do have a choice during this time. Do we want to be John Brown? Or do we want to be Frederick Douglass? Both of these men believed in good causes. They were both abolitionists, but how they went about fighting for the cause it made all the difference. Do we want to give people that don't like us a reason to call us names like an axe murderer or traitors, or do they call us names because we're holding up right and true principles and the values of God, and we're showing that not only through our deeds but through our words?

Cydni: 18:35

History is hard that way, because they both had reason to feel angry, they both were standing against something that was wrong and they both had a lot of feelings inside. And it is interesting that we can see ourselves in both John Brown and in Frederick Douglass that sometimes we act poorly because of how we're feeling and sometimes we can gather ourself before. Actually, I have to tell you this, now it's completely different and it is not as important at all, but it made me think about the practice, the pause that before we react because we feel certain ways, and it's justified so often, and sometimes it's something that is affecting the world. Sometimes it is something that is affecting your own little world. And we had our own little world recently.

Cydni: 19:21

Situation that I think ties together because Titus, who is 11, came home from school with a friend and they said hey, mom, could I go door to door and mow people's lawns? And I said no, titus, absolutely not, because we have a brand new lawnmower. You don't know how to use it and I just don't think you should ask for money from people when you don't know how to do it. And he said okay, and then I went inside and he said I think that meant I should. I think that means that we should go together, door to door, and we should ask people if we can mow their lawn with a lawnmower they don't know how to use. And so, at that, titus found somebody that wanted their lawn mowed by two 11-year-olds, and so he came home and he said hey, mom, she doesn't have cash, but she has Venmo. And I said, excuse me, and he said, yeah, so can I get your Venmo? And I said, titus, what have you done? And he's like I got this 100%. My friend knows how to mow lawns, we are good, we're golden.

Cydni: 20:16

And he's like or should I say I'm not going to do it, which is probably what I should have said is yes. But I said well, go do what you promised to do and then let us know. Sure, oh, I'm so worried. This kid called about 45 minutes later Mom, I cannot get the lawnmower started. And I said it's been 45 minutes, buddy. He said I've been trying for 45 minutes. He wanted his older brother to come help, so I sent Rock over to help. Rock goes over there, shows him how to start the lawnmower, comes back home. Then Titus calls about 20 minutes later. Mom, rock showed me, but I think I've done it wrong.

Speaker 3: 20:53

It's not cutting any grass.

Cydni: 21:01

So I send Rock over again because I don't know how to use it. And Rock goes and he cuts a few rows for him and he shows him how to do it. Then, about 30 minutes later, Titus calls again. He's standing at the corner near our home with his hands on his head in complete defeat and he said Mom, I'm over my head, I don't know what to do, but this is a disaster. It had been over two hours at this point. Ben comes home. I'm with him. He's using a brand new lawnmower that's very expensive and he doesn't know what he's doing. Ben and I have to go save him. By that I mean Ben, I was only there to take pictures and video.

Cydni: 21:32

I have to be honest that we both felt pretty upset at him. He completely disobeyed. He took very expensive equipment that he doesn't care that it costs so much money. He doesn't know how to use it. It's a complete disaster. He is not in tears, but he's close that. He's like Mom. There's a group of people watching across the street watching us fail. That's the least of your worries right now.

Cydni: 21:56

My friend and Ben and I, we got to practice the pause because we had to walk over there. We got to say to ourselves we know how he thinks we're going to react, because we're both upset and we honestly had every reason to be very upset at this kid. We walked over together calmly and we said you know, we both feel mad and we both are valid in our feelings of anger towards this little guy. But we get to choose how we will react. We get to choose what we say to him. We get to choose how he feels when we show up. And because we had this long walk ahead of us, we talked about it before. We said to each other what is the most impactful thing we could do. Is it beat him down, because that's what we want to do, or is it when he's not expecting it to lift him up, to help him to build resilience and to ground him.

Cydni: 22:43

The husband he comes home and he looks at the yard and he, at that point, begs Titus to just go practice and come back again. If you drive over around the corner, cher, you will see a house that has three rows cut, barely two rows. The opposite direction cut too short, and that is it. It is a disaster, oh no, but I've really reflected on this because we had time to practice the pause and decide how we wanted him to feel and what we said to him. Ben did a beautiful job. He told him I really appreciate, admire your ambition here, buddy. That's in the right place, but let's talk about things that maybe you hadn't thought of, so that you could learn a lesson from this and you could apply it to the future.

Sher: 23:23

For all that is good and lovely, I like how you said his heart was in the right place, because so was John Brown's. His heart was in the right place. He started by hiding slaves and working with the Underground Railroad, as was Frederick Douglass, but the outcome was so different. He let that anger just fester and he did not practice the pause. Instead of letting justice and the laws go through and deal with the slave owners that had caused injury and death, he decided to get revenge on them and take the matter into his own hands. That never helps.

Cydni: 23:57

I like the statement how does this help? Because we had to do that as parents. How does it help if we show up angry? Or how does it help if we show up to help? And, for the most part, we are not going to be someone who stands in the history books for centuries and centuries, but we are someone who will stand in a day-to-day basis, who has opportunities to decide what we say and how we act, and we get to ask ourselves if we practice the pause, how does what I'm about to say help?

Sher: 24:26

And it's really hard. You have to check yourself. I mean, being a middle school teacher, I wasn't really good at that in the beginning and I got a lot better by the end. I had to check myself. Some days I was better at it than others, but there are lots of opportunities to practice this and the things that happen to us can help.

Cydni: 24:43

I wanted to go back to Maya Angelou. She didn't speak for I believe it was four years, and here's what's interesting about this In those four years time, she only read. She read words, and she read inspiring and beautiful and faithful words. That's all she did. The people in town, they called her names, they talked down to her because she was a mute at this point, but her grandma would braid her hair and she would say to Maya one day you're going to be ready and when you talk you will be a preacher, you will help others. And it was those words that pulled Maya Angelou out of the silence. And let me share something she writes.

Cydni: 25:22

I think it matters who says something, and especially if you know their background. Sometimes the words are even more impactful because you understand there's a history there, there's pain there and there's a reason and cause to be angry and bitter and hurt. But when they choose to change, that's where the power comes in. And here's some of her words. You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies. You may tread me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, I'll rise. Do you want to see me broken, bowed head and lowered eyes, shoulders falling down like teardrops, weakened by my soulful cries. You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I'll rise. When you know someone like her, who went through what she did because she was growing up a black child in a time where that was dangerous and where people were hurtful already, and then her own community would say things to her because she didn't speak, when you know that she can talk again, and when she talks again she chooses to say I will rise. That's where power and words come from.

Cydni: 26:28

And on reflection, I've thought about a lot of people who we know, who are famous. There's Jim Carrey, who everyone knows for his comedy. When he was a child, his mother was in deep depression and he tried desperately to make her laugh. He read as a young child he was sitting in his room and he read Buddha's words that all spirituality is about relieving suffering, and that gave him purpose. He realized that even his mom, who was severely depressed, he can make her laugh. He was doing spiritual work. He understood that it wasn't just about fame and it wasn't about comedy, but it was about relieving people's suffering with their gifts and their talents that completely shaped his life.

Cydni: 27:06

And Denzel Washington was about to drop out of college. He had a really low GPA and it was sitting in a barbershop where a woman looked at him and she said young man, I have a prophecy for you One day you will speak to millions of people. Do not quit. And he didn't. Her words shaped his life and Maya Angelou, her grandma, said to her you will come out of this and you will be a preacher.

Cydni: 27:28

And these words from Muhammad Ali I love so much. He says in an interview when asked what do you want people to say of you? Listen to these words and see how this makes you feel. He took a few cups of love. He took one tablespoon of patience, one teaspoon of generosity, one pint of kindness. He took one quart of laughter, one pinch of concern, and then he mixed willingness and happiness and he added lots of faith and he stirred it up. Well, then he spread it over the span of a lifetime and he served it to each and every deserving person he met. That's beautiful, I love it, and I was thinking upon my own direction in my life that I remember sitting in my college English class not listening.

Cydni: 28:09

I carried that on from high school. But I remember sitting in my college English class flipping through the pages of a book and coming across a poem for the first time that touched me so deeply that a small town girl with no idea of what the world was like I had such a deep part of me touched that I sat and I cried in the classroom. And the poem is Ballad of Birmingham. Mother dear, may I go downtown instead of out to play and march the streets of Birmingham in a freedom march today? No, baby, no, you may not go, for the dogs are fierce and wild and clubs and hoses, guns and gels aren't good for a little child. But, mother, I won't be alone. Other children will go with me and march the streets of Birmingham to make our country free. No, baby, no, you may not go, for I fear those guns will fire. But you may go to church instead and sing in the children's choir.

Cydni: 29:00

She combed and brushed her tight dark hair and bathed rose petals, sweet and drawn white gloves on her small brown hands and white shoes on her feet. The mother smiled to know her child was in a sacred place. But that smile was the last smile to come upon her face, for when she heard the explosion, her eyes grew wet and wild. She raced through the streets of Birmingham calling for her child. She clawed through bits of glass and brick, then lifted out a shoe. Oh, here's the shoe my baby wore, but baby, where are you shoe? Oh, here's the shoe my baby wore, but baby, where are you Heavy? Yeah, it is, but I learned there, sitting in my English class, without the help of the professor, how powerful words are, the picture that they can paint and imprint on your very heart. And from there it opened a world of poetry and story and history for me. That has stayed with me. I love poetry, I love stories, I love history.

Sher: 29:53

And it started with reading the words someone wrote from their heart Every person that you talked about, from Jim Carrey to Muhammad Ali, to that beautiful poem and the impact it had on you. Words were able to change the projection of that person. Words were able to change the projection of that person and I would try to use that example with Frederick Douglass as an example of exactly what you just talked about, to show them how much words really do matter and how much you can change your own heart, as well as the hearts of others, by the words that you say and the words that you write. It is so huge and impactful on people's souls, on their very heart, like you just said, it changed and opened up a whole new world for you.

Cydni: 30:32

This all starts with the words that we say to ourself. It's easy for us to say kind things to other people, but saying kind things to ourself is a struggle. It starts with awareness of the things that you're thinking and the words that you're allowing to say to yourself. Recently, ben used his words to really shape a new idea for myself. I can be a little harsh on myself, like so many of us, and he said to me Sid, I need you to be nicer to yourself, because you are the carer of my wife and I love her.

Cydni: 31:03

That was impactful for me to take a step outside of myself and see that I am given the responsibility to take care of myself. And if I take outside of myself and see that I am given the responsibility to take care of myself, and if I take care of myself with the things that I think and the things that I say, then I am better equipped to take care of the people that are in my reach. It's with words that our perspectives can change our perspective of our own worth and our own value, and for the perspective of what we are going through. We could simply say this trial is not happening to me, but this trial is happening for me. And with simple words and with a shift of perspective, we can better carry the heavy loads that we are asked to bear and we can find purpose in bearing those as well. And in doing so, we can think and say things that will uplift and encourage ourselves and those within our reach.

Sher: 31:50

I'm really glad you brought this up, because Elder Holland he said I suppose it goes without saying that negative speaking so often flows from negative thinking, including negative thinking about ourselves. We see our own faults, we speak, or at least think, critically of ourselves and before long that is how we see everyone and everything. Speaking from my own experience, it's so hard to change that attitude and that way of thinking because we are hard on ourselves and sometimes that's something, honestly, you have to go to your Heavenly Father in prayer and say help me change this way of thinking and help me change how I see myself so that I can portray positivity with my words to other people, because I do want to be that positive person to other people. But that means I have to be kinder to myself and give myself grace, which I think is really super hard For our final thoughts. Going back to Elder Holland, he said May we try to be perfect men and women in at least this way now by offending, not in word, or, more positively put, by speaking with a new tongue, the tongue of angels. Our words, like our deeds, should be filled with faith, hope and charity, the three great Christian imperatives so desperately needed in the world today. With such words, spoken under the influence of the Spirit, tears can be dried, hearts can be healed, lives can be elevated, hope can return, confidence can prevail.

Sher: 33:17

Elder Holland is saying that we have the power in our words to make things better or worse. Words have inspired individuals to do great things, helping them find their talent and voice. Like Frederick Douglass to Muhammad Ali, we have the power in our words and deeds to do that for others. We have the power to heal with our words, to restore confidence and hope in others and ourselves. We have positive and negative examples throughout all of history to learn from them, to grow from them, to help us become our best selves. We can use our words, as Paul said in Ephesians, to be kind to one another, be tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. This is all within our power. By following the example of our Savior and heeding to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, we can set an example, being healing and hopeful. To stop the chaos that is all around us, it needs to start with us and the words that we put out there.

Cydni: 34:10

Our challenge this week is for you to write a poem that changes the course of history and you get your own statue put at the Capitol. Or we challenge you to write a very lovely, heartfelt message text to somebody that can uplift, inspire and change their day, because you can ruin someone's day or life in 30 seconds, but you could also improve their life and make it better in 30 seconds. This is our prayer from Sydney and Cher.

Speaker 3: 34:44

Forging my way through the tip-tip-top. I'm living my life through the drip-drip-drop. When eternity is planned, I just can't stop. I'm making my way through the drip-drip-drop.

Cydni: 35:02

Good luck editing that. Can you tie that into something there? Can you make a pretty little bow out of that? I like throw wrapping paper at you. Like bows and wrapping paper, I just like throw it at you and I'm like, there you go, make something. Can you put in like a locked door sound? Right now you are trapped.

Sher: 35:17

I'm trapped with Sydney, and Sydney's still bitter about it, so I'm not bitter.

Cydni: 35:21

I'm better. You're better because of it, I'm wearing all black. Yet again, she took away the sunshine, so you won't wear yellow anymore. No, again she took away the sunshine, so you won't wear yellow anymore. No, I wear mustard yellow. Well, that's good. I think of her when I wear it, like what are you going to do now? What are you going to do now?

Sher: 35:36

you chapped lips, don't say it. Why are you making fun of me?

Cydni: 35:38

I didn't say anything about you wearing yellow. I can't see myself. I'm going to try to help Sydney out here a little bit, or others who are listening, because I'm fine.

Sher: 35:45

I'm going to try to help Sydney out here a little bit.

Cydni: 35:48

Or others who are listening. Because, I'm fine, I'm great right now. I don't think I want to interrupt your charade. I was going to say scroll through. That's how affected I am by social media. You can't scroll a book like that. I can't. I don't know why. It's funny. Okay, from Sydney and Cher, cher, cher, bear.

Sher: 36:12

Cher bear share bear. Turn off the words. Help me unlock the door.