Words Matter

Words Matter, and I don’t mean that in the slightest of meanings. I don’t mean when you tell the barista, “Cassidy” and she calls out, “Chassity” when your order is ready, no. When I say that, I mean when you’re in second grade and Johnny sitting next to Susie opens his mouth and calls her “Piggy,” quote - ‘because you don’t need to snort to already be a pig.’ How Susie lashes out - because she has no filter - and she tells Johnny that, “Maybe if Johnny wasn’t so mean he would surely have more friends.”
    After that day, Johnny gets branded the clown of the class, and he can always make people laugh - usually by insulting the other kids, but that’s okay because it makes people laugh, right? And little Susie gets made as a go-to practice board because everyone now wants a go at making piggy mad. How year after year, no matter what class they’re in, it gets worse.  How as Johnny gets older, he starts learning how to wear long sleeves to cover the bruises. How Susie, since sixth grade, has worn makeup and learns every tip possible to make her feel better about herself. How even in sixth grade she was worried about her weight in the years that she should’ve been a kid just because Johnny walked by her in the hallway whispering “piggy-piggy.” Then when high school came around Johnny is too old to be hiding bruises, so he goes to football practice and then the next day pretends they’re scars of glory. How Susie now wears more makeup than ever before, and goes to the bathroom after meal, and wants designer clothes to fit in and feel better. 
How those same two people, ten years after second grade, are grown up and in high school and Johnny is a football jock and pretending to be one of the most popular people in high school. . . And that same little girl - all grown up now too - is drifting from friend group to friend group, pretending she’s happy and content with her life. 
    Yes, this is what I mean. But I can see your thoughts - they say, “Well, they’re just kids. They seem to be okay, and they have their whole lives ahead of them!” No, Mrs Naive and Mr Ignorant, that is how they came to be back in second grade, who they are, for the rest of their lives. 
    How Susie, obsessed with her weight, she eats less and less but doesn’t notice a change. She doesn’t notice the love and pain in her boyfriend's eyes because she’s too busy looking in the mirror. 
    Words Matter: not in only the sense that they do in a proper sentence, but that they can mean someone's life. How Johnny gets drunk after a football game with his friends, and takes a joyride in someone else’s car. In that someone else’s car they miss a stop sign, hitting an elderly couple who were on their way home from bingo night and embedding them and his friends in a tree. Killing all of them and injuring his leg so severely he’ll find out later he can’t play football anymore because of it - not that he would anyways after this. 
    Words matter because even though the nickname “piggy” is a thing of the past, it still rings as loud as the church bells of her religion she so heavily believes. How that night the football team wins, she hears the whisper of the branded name and it brings everything back up. And later at home in the bathroom she’s looking in the mirror, and the love of the people around her and the faith of her God can't persuade her. How she can hear the sirens down the street, because someone crashed into a tree. How her parents aren’t in  the house because they told her to stay while they went to go help. How she sits down calmly with silent tears falling, and writes the final draft of her last letter. 
    This is sad and depressing because we know it’s wrong. However its true more often than not. How Johnny’s sitting in the hospital, already in a cast, and then the next thing he knows he's being put into a police cruiser when his parents show up - they start screaming and threatening how he better not come home. How an officer has to hold his father back as he screams and spits that he was a mistake and he should’ve never been born while his mother looks at him in disgust from their car a few feet away. They both say it, whether it’s verbal or not - but Johnny isn’t loved. 
    It’s true, because a while later after the crash, parents come home after helping down the street to a quiet house, except for the sound of dripping water. How they go to tell their daughter “I love you,” and goodnight, but there’s no response from within the bathroom. How when they open the door their daughter, their beautiful and beloved daughter is laying in a tub of red stained water with a note taped to the shower curtain and tears still standing on her cheeks. 
    This is real. It happens every day. Whether we want to believe it or not. Words matter. Just as much as lives do. Because words said in a moment are still words said.