(Originally sent by email 7/4/18)
“Words: So innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.”
~ Nathaniel Hawthorne, American author
Happy Independence Day to all of my fellow Americans!
And to those of you in other parts of the world…
…I hope you’ll take a moment to celebrate the value of freedom, and the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness with us today.
For these are not just American values; they are human values.
Simple words, aren’t they?
Life…liberty…pursuit of happiness.
They’re not big…they’re not hard to pronounce…and most 5th graders could tell you what they mean.
Simple words, yes…
…yet they carried strength enough to forge a new nation.
We’ve all heard that saying, “words have the power to create or destroy”…
…and until recently, I thought that was just a figure of speech.
A wise, but cliched adage that reminds us to be mindful of what we say.
What I didn’t know…and what hit me like a ton of bricks…were 2 experiments that prove that words literally carry the power to create life and beauty…
…or destruction and ugliness.
And when I say, “literally”, I mean they literally change the cells of the thing they’re directed at.
The first experiment has been all over Facebook, so you may have seen it.
Two plants are placed inside of a school.
They’re put in glass boxes and given the same soil, same watering, same light, same everything.
The only difference?
One plant has a speaker that plays hateful negative words inside its box.
Words like, “I hate you”, “you’re ugly”, and “you’re a mistake”.
The other plant has a speaker that plays compliments, like “you’re beautiful”, “I love you”, and “I like you the way you are”.
After 30 days, the results are terrifying…
…that is, when you consider the politically super-charged environment we’re living in where name-calling, bullying, and rage have replaced civility and humanity.
And while the way we talk to each other would be enough to scare Freddy Krueger back into his grave…
…the results of the experiment are even more frightening when you think about the words we say to ourselves.
In just a month’s time, the plant that’s listening to hate messages is withering, turning brown, and on its way to its deathbed.
The plant getting the compliments, on the other hand, is thriving, growing, and beautiful, sporting a shiny green coat.
Holy crapanoli!
Is that what we’re doing to each other?
Is that what we’re doing to our nation?
Is that what we’re doing to ourselves?
The second experiment was done by a Japanese researcher named, Masaru Emoto.
He photographed water crystals before and after showing words to the water, playing music to the water, and saying prayers to the water.
The results are astonishing!
Words like, “evil”, “you disgust me”, and “you fool” created ugly looking disfigured crystals…
…as did heavy metal music and even “Heartbreak Hotel” by Elvis Presley.
I’m guessing my beloved 80’s hair bands wouldn’t fair much better 🙁
On the other hand, words like “truth”, “harmony”, “peace”, and even “hemp” created gorgeous symmetrical crystals…
…as did songs, like “Amazing Grace”, “Edelweiss”, and John Lennon’s “Imagine”.
Prayers also transformed the water crystals from distorted to beautiful, as proven by Emoto’s photographs taken before and after the prayers were offered to the water.
Thought-provoking stuff, considering 50% or more of our bodies are made up of water.
What both these experiments prove is that words carry their own vibration, and depending on the frequency, they can create life and beauty…or ugliness and ruin.
So on this Independence Day…
…on this 242nd anniversary of our “Great Experiment” (#GeorgeWashington)…
…take a moment to reflect on what you want to create with the power of your words during this second half of 2018.
How will you use your words to build the kind of audience you want?
How will you use the thoughts in your head and your heart to mold yourself?
What messages will you blast out on Facebook and Twitter?
How will you speak to and about people from other political parties, other religions, other countries, and other belief systems?
How will you use the power of your words to create the kind of nation, culture, and environment you want to live in…from the cellular level up?
And once you’re done reflecting…
…send out a giant thank you to the universe, our founding fathers, your ancestors who immigrated here, and the ovarian lottery that you have the freedom to choose your own answers, live by them, and shout them from the rooftops (or through Infusionsoft and Facebook) without fear of death, incarceration, or any other form of reprisal.
Let freedom ring,
Terra
P.S. You can find the plant experiment here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx6UgfQreYY
And you can read about Masuro Emoto and see his pictures here: http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/water-crystal.html
P.P.S. No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, let all of us in America honor what we stand for today…
…the Constitution
…the Bill of Rights
…the Amendments
…freedom of speech…religion…and the press…
…separation of church and state…
…checks and balances…
…the presumption of innocence…
…fair and open elections…
…and so much more.
Our country was founded on these words:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
When any of these rights are infringed upon for one of us, they are infringed upon for all of us.
For today, it may be your neighbor’s religion or ethnicity, and tomorrow it could be yours.
We fought for this great country for a reason. Our rights belong to each and every one of us, and that deserves the utmost respect.
Let us never forget these wise lessons from history…
“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
P.P.P.S. For just this one day, let’s turn off CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and all the other slanted media and let’s all be Americans.
If you must digest the news, look for a reputable neutral source. Reuters, the Economist, the Atlantic, Newsweek, and Time all enjoy good reputations.
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