Words to Sink a Ship

"Words! Words! Words! I'm so sick of words! I get words all day through; first from him, now from you. Is that all you blighters can do?"

I'f you've seen the Broadway musical, "My Fair Lady," eons past (some of you may just have been a figment of your mom or dad's imagination then, circa 1960s), you'll recall the main character, Eliza Doolittle, played by legendary actress Audrey Hepburn, ranting about her male admirers' propensity for talking and not acting.

That's what we all are--- talkers first, performers second.

Because words come easy. You can promise, you can wax romantic or poetic, and tickle one's ears with words. But sometimes we spill out words in the same way we burp or pass air or yawn or let out a sigh.

We go careless with words like, "You're stupid!" "What a jerk!" "Oh, s__t!"

We most of the time don't mean it, but words like these can mince and dice and cut through our core, enough to separate one's juice from his pulp.

"My son will not amount to anything," I heard a father speak of his son in the presence of guests, and in the hearing of his son.

"As a man thinks, so is he," says the bible.

I wonder how the father's careless words were reinforced many times over in this young man's mind. I'm not surprised at all that he turned to drugs, never finished his education and led a wayward life.

Words are powerful. God used words to speak the universe into being. "Let there be light, and there was light."

So it is a choice---to use life words that will either build up and bring light to a situation, or killer words which can cut one's spirit to shreds.

And it is words we use everyday to put our country down. I'm guilty of that too.

"Wala nang mangyayari sa bansa natin, hindi na tayo magbabago." "We don't see change happening. Our country will continue to be like this because of graft and corruption." We hear this like a song's constant refrain, during breaktimes, in our tete-a-tete with friends. As a nation thinks, so it is!

If words could kill, and our nation were a boat, then we are now shipwrecked and at the bottom of the ocean because of the killer words we've spoken about our nation and our situation.

We're commanded to pray and speak only of what is noble, true, kind, just, uplifting. Nowhere in the bible are we told to complain. In fact, God hated complainers so much, He caused an entire generation of Jews to die in the desert, letting them go round and round and round in the wilderness for 40 years. And they were His chosen people!

But what about the shenanigans, the corruption? Should we just keep quiet and let the law-breakers do their own thing?

God has appointed leaders and governments to enforce the law. We need to pray for them, and definitely expose corruption and help bring the guilty to task.

Let's pray for our president, our lawmakers and those who need to enforce the law and prosecute the guilty.

But let's cease complaining and let's start obeying the rules which we ourselves are guilty of breaking: bribing municipal officials because we could not wait for our papers to be processed (padulas), crossing the street where we shouldn't, driving through a red light or counter-flow, cutting through a queue, etc., etc!

All of us, not just our government officials, need a change of heart. Unless we all realize this, we will continue to point fingers and complain and be fearful of our children's future in this country.

The people groan if their leaders are corrupt, says the Book of books. So instead of complaining, let's be down on our knees praying, and obeying the law as well.

Blight---anything which destroys, frustrates or causes anything to wither, like a plant.

Eliza Doolittle chirped that those who use, "words, words, words," are blighters. It's a choice we need to make daily to destroy or build up, speak life or death.

If we believe that God is in control, then He is in control. If we believe---especially collectively believe (evidenced by our complaining)---that He isn't, then He'll withhold action.

Come to think of it, our prayers get cancelled out because of our complaining. Faith and fear are like water and oil. They can never mix.

So let's act as if He is in control. Let's be careful with our words and obey His Word.