Words

"You are a slob. Wait until you are older no girl will even look at you."

"You are so lazy."

"You are fat."

"You are so stupid."

How can she not see his tear filled eyes and the pain their words have caused him. How can she repeat the errors of the previous generation and treat him the way she was treated.

Her mother had always used words as weapons hurling them at the three siblings. She could remember hiding in the closet or under the bed anywhere to escape the pain of those barbs. Words are powerful though they are like time bombs. She thought she had avoided most of the damage but she was well into her thirties and still found herself crying in her sleep. She no longer lived with her mother but the potency of her mothers words crossed telephone lines could still cut her deep.

Yet, what she hated most about her mother she inflicted upon her only son. When brought to her attention she always brushed off the concerns of others.

"They're only words", she would mutter.

"He knows I love him," she would explain.

All the more reason for her to understand the power love gives to our words. The words of a stranger can be easily brushed off. There is no emotional investment. The words of a loved one however are filled with meaning. How can he at ten separate the wheat from the chaff. She calls him stupid, or fat, or lazy but doesn't mean it. How can he not become confused when she than says I love you and means it.

Lacking understanding he searches for the true meaning behind her words but only finds himself lost in tears of confusion and frustration.