The Power of the Tongue

Better pointed bullets than pointed speeches. -- Otto von Bismarck 

As the world sent it's condolences on the death of Wangari Maathai, one person must have been getting haunted over and over again by their words of days gone by.

I listened to Kameme FM pay tribute to the fallen hero on the morning of her funeral - playing clips of her wise words, reminding listeners of her achievements and her struggles - and this is where the power of the tongue comes in. One clip that has been replayed over and over again these last few days has been a clip of former President Daniel Moi calling her a crazy woman who did not conform to the African norm and asking fellow women to come out and discipline one of their own.

At that point, I wondered just what was the former president thinking and feeling every time he heard those words replayed? Especially in light of all that her life has been since he uttered those words, every accolade she has received from far and wide, and all her achievements arising from her defiance of the status quo then.  In her response, she only said that her conscience had risen to a point where she was doing what she believed to be the right thing to do, the only thing to do.

How mere words have the power to come back and haunt us!

I learnt my lesson this weekend regarding words: they can build, they can tear, they can go out, but never return, they can edify or return in form of ghosts that never rest.

A spoken word is not a sparrow. Once it flies out, you can't catch it. --Russian Proverb

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