Communication Power

I was recently on the farm where I grew up and where my parents still live, and the driveway passes right by a school playground where, frequently, a good number of kids were playing in various ways as we came and went. When passing, there would almost always be a few of them who would hold a fist up in the air and repeatedly pull it straight down like a truck driver honking a horn. My horn was not as loud as an 18-wheeler, but they cheered whenever I would honk anyway. I remember doing the same thing, especially on the interstate while passing a semi; making that gesture, and getting the effect of the horn blast was exhilarating.

The old children’s saying goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” but we know that this isn’t true. Words do hurt; words have power. When we communicate with others, things happen, and I think that was what was so magical about the horns; I could pump my fist in the air, and the enormous horn of a semi-truck would thunder next to us. I didn’t physically pull on the cord, but my communication efforts still made that happen.

Your words and communication have power, whether you think they do or not. Sometimes things happen right away, and other times the communication has to steep in the deep recesses of the receiver's mind and heart for a while before we see movement, but that communication is still making things happen.

Signaling a semi-truck to blow its horn is a story that has shaped me. What stories have shaped you?