The Power of Words – January 18, 2004
We don’t always realize the impact a few words can have on our children. We wonder if they hear us when we ask them to work a little harder, keep their rooms clean, and keep their promises. Maybe if we consider our words more carefully, our children will too. After all, words can be the most powerful force in our world.
Martin Luther King, a man who grew up under the strict but loving words of his father, learned to be obedient, to be tolerant, and to look for meaning in things that were said and in things that were not said. He listened to the words of the influential preachers of his day and to his professors at Morehouse College and Boston University. He studied the words of Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, and Henry David Thoreau. And then, with wisdom and a desire to be an influence for good, he spoke his own words. About our modern society he taught: “The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually. We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers. . . . A great nation is a compassionate nation. . . . Both rich and poor are tied in a single garment of destiny.”1 Imagine the hope these words gave to the underprivileged child and the sense of obligation it inspired in the student hoping to make a difference.
The words of Martin Luther King inspired confidence during a troubled time in our history. But the power of his words lies not in the context of history but in the context of our lives. Who can hear the words “I have a dream” and not be moved to compassion, to action? When Martin Luther King articulated his dream, he helped shape those who would follow him by moving them to take action in their own neighborhoods and families, to make their small worlds a little better. That is why, after more than 40 years, we remember him and his words.
Program #3883
1. “The Quest for Peace and Justice,” Nobel lecture, December 11, 1964; paragraphing altered. Available online at http://www.nobel.se/peace/laureates/1964/king-lecture.html.