Written or spoken, words are continuously propelling us through life.

They lift us up, drag us down,

wound us deeply or heal our hearts. Words have the power to break confidences, build life long
alliances or start wars.

Words can make or break us, both as individuals and as a society. What have you been saying
lately?

The words you speak can have a profound effect on the people they reach. Are you encouraging or
discouraging? Are you building up your children, your spouse, your friend or even the stranger you
pass on the street? Or are you tearing down your own family with words of criticism, bitterness
and judgment? Are you causing the destruction of your self-esteem by speaking ill suited words
over yourself, your health and prosperity?

Words have set whole nations in motion…Give me the right word and the right accent and I will
move the world. Joseph Conrad

Words mean something.

People have fought and died over words. People have been inspired to do sometimes great,
sometimes terrible acts just by a few simple words.

It's easy to forget that in these times when written communication can be blasted worldwide in a
matter of nanoseconds.

Last week, a man came to a breaking point in his life. Even though he posted a multipage
manifesto online, it was still difficult to see why he chose to burn his house down, and then crash a
small plane into an IRS building, apparently killing himself and one other person.

But that hasn't stopped people from around the world hopping online and immediately slinging
accusations.

"Conservatives" - of course - took his distaste for big business and the Catholic Church and
immediately blamed "liberals" for everything wrong in the universe.

"Liberals" - of course - took his distaste for taxes and immediately blamed "conservatives" for
everything wrong in the universe.

Still others actually lauded the actions of a clearly disturbed individual - a person for whom it was
not enough to shatter his own family, but had to kill and maim others on his descent.

Those might seem like meaningless statements carved in pixels by anonymous sources, which will
vanish as quickly as they flash across the monitor.

But words mean something. And sometimes, they mean things to other people that we never
imagined.
Too often, online remarks are proof that the writer doesn't own an opinion, their opinion owns
them.

Instead of thoughtful ideas, reason and the ability to doubt, people prove their opinion with
thoughtless bluster and vicious smears.

Most people understand that these are words to be taken lightly.

But as this past week proved, you cannot assume whomever is reading your words is going to be in
the right mental state to get that.

What could be a boastful, breast-beating defense of an opinion could easily be taken as a deadly
serious personal attack.

What may be a suggestion in jest could be read as an incitement of violence.

Everyone is entitled to have an opinion and to share it.

But none of us can forget that we don't know who will be reading our words, and how our letters
will be taken, twisted and ultimately thought of by someone else.

Words, even innocent ones, can lead to actions - and those can't be taken back.

It's worth keeping that in mind before we hit "send."