Words

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me."

My pastor began his sermon with those words this morning, then he went on to say that the childhood chant is a crock: words impact our lives deeply.
Consider the words, "I will love you and honor you all the days of my life," he said. And another three-word sentence: "I divorce you."

Words cut to the core of our emotions. They ground us in hope, and smother us in despair. They form our identity. They are the glue of all relationships.

Some other words -- those in a hymn called "The Summons" -- spoke to me this morning, as well. "Will you come and follow Me if I but call your name? Will you go where you don't know and never be the same?" The summons in those two sentences seemed written especially for me and the young woman sitting next to me -- my granddaughter-by-affection, Rosemary, who will be team-teaching Creative Writing with me in Ghana this summer.

Words. What will we say to those 7th, 8th and 9th-grade children who are the best and the brightest of 11 villages surrounding Bremen Esiam, where Kwesi Koomson grew up? What will those kids who are attending summer school at Heritage Academy say to us, and will we ever be the same?

Kwesi says that writing is not a skill these children have honed, nor even been taught; yet the ability to write a cogent essay is a necessary part of the examinations they must pass if they are to go on to higher learning.

So words will be taking shape like a Scrabble board in our imaginations during the coming months, as Rose's youthful inspirations criss-cross my weathered ideas. Together, we'll create lesson plans designed to inspire our students toward confident self-expression.

Needless to say, this is not The Last Word on this subject. I'm feeling obsessed -- and ebullient!