Are Your Words Like A Tornado?
ByOriginally posted February 18th, 2008.
In the wee hours of Sunday morning, around 1:30 a.m., a tornado ripped through our tiny community. I was awake, praying, and nervously preparing to wake the kids and move them into the hallway when all the noise suddenly stopped. The eerie silence of the storm having passed is a sound I don’t think I’ll ever get accustomed to.
Tornados are a rarity in Louisiana. But I lived in Tennessee for over 12 years, where tornado season was a yearly affair. I hate them. Here in Louisiana, the threat of hurricanes are the norm. And hurricanes are something that can be predicted, but tornados, as you know, cannot. They are a scary and fierce child of nature.
When the kids and I left for church yesterday morning, I saw the immediate damage here at home. Thankfully our house remained untouched, but one of the huge cypress trees in the front yard was destroyed. As I walked around the tree to take photos, I realized there was a piece of crumpled siding nestled in the middle of the damaged tree. This siding, as it turns out, was ripped off a trailer just up the road from us, and tossed to and fro throughout the neighborhood.
It’s amazing what a tornado can do. It can literally rip up an entire section of homes on one side of the street and leave the other side totally undamaged. It’s a powerful force of nature.
Do Your Words Hold A Fury?
Our words are a powerful force. With words, we can build someone up or tear them down. As writers, we hold a great responsibility to those who read our words.
If we aren’t careful, we take out our frustrations with our words, hurting others in the process. Have you ever been so appalled at something that you turned to the page and wrote an essay about it? Or maybe you were mad about something and turned it into a blog post.
Our words hold a power unlike any other. Your emotions seep through the words you write. Those who read what you wrote will feel those emotions years from now in the words you penned. Your words are that powerful.
Harness And Direct That Written Energy
As a writer, it is your duty to ensure your words are a positive force of nature. After all, why in the world would you want to write something that does nothing but destroy others?
Like a tornado, when your words are harmful and damaging, you leave a path of destruction. Bad feelings, anger, hurt, rejection, pain, sorrow, disappointment… These will all be littered along the path your writing takes when it is filled with negative, hurtful emotions. The challenge then lies in being able to harness and direct all that written energy so that it is focused in the best and most positive direction.
First, take a look at your writing to date. What sort of message or theme does it have woven through it? Everything you write has an underlying tone. If you’re angry at the time of writing, pessimism will emerge. If you’re excited, those emotions will shine through.
As you contemplate these things, think about what theme you want your current and future writings to hold. What do you want your readers to feel and think when they walk away after having read something you wrote?
An important point to remember is that you’ll always have your up and down days. But when you know what the theme of your writing should be, you’ll be much more able to get focused and centered within yourself, then direct your negative thoughts and feelings into an appropriate piece of writing that will help others, not hurt them.
