The Pen vs The Sword

"The pen is mightier than the sword." Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1839, "Cardinal Richelieu."

I know that I've heard these words many times during my life. The same with the children's saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." This last quote I hold as hogwash. Words are our sword and our shield, they are what we use to protect ourselves from hurt and to better our chances of achieving that of which we dream.

A sword will cut you or kill you, but words, whether written or spoken, can build entire lives or tear them down. Perhaps, this is why I choose to write; the vague hope, that with words, I can build something, create something, protect myself from something, whether emptiness, or sadness, or anger, all emotions that destroy rather than build.

As children, words are our protection against vulnerability, against letting the world or other people know that we have been hurt. We lash out with accusations, names, sharp words that we would normally never say. As adults, we use lies, white lies or otherwise, because we have learned that lashing out just shows our emotions and lets someone know that they have hit a sore spot. Sadly, most of us do not learn to build with our words. It is difficult for many people to express praise or compliments, to express love or gratitude. I find that it is more often in the written word that the words that build are to be found. This is why I love language, particularly the written words.

There are times, when I simply cannot express what it is that I need to say. Sometimes to my husband or my children I have said words in anger that I have regretted, but have been unable to speak the words to heal. During those times, I turn to writing. In writing I can explain, I can pour out all of my words, my thoughts and feelings, in a coherent whole, with a beginning, a middle, and an end (usually an apology). I've built worlds with my children as bedtime stories, creating characters and places, short stories that involve them and bring them into the creating. I want to show them the possibilities that are to be had in words, to teach them to create the words and places that can heal, the sword and shield that can build; rather than destroy.

These are the things that I think of when I read the stories here. So many people have placed their words, their writing, out into the world. Made themselves vulnerable, or have healed themselves through the expressions of the pain and the anger held inside, or have created stories of joy and wonder to bring smiles to faces, or mysteries and thrillers to capture the mind and make it wonder. Words are our very foundational stones and the written word in particular holds a power far mightier than a sword. I look forward to each story that I read here and the stories that my children and I create together. My greatest hope, though, is that the stories and words placed onto pages will build and heal and create.