The Power Of Words

                    What is power to you?  Maybe it’s strength, maybe influence, maybe fear. To me power is words. Words can hurt or heal, they can make a situation better or worse, words are the most powerful thing a person possesses. We have the choice of using our words positively or negatively, to use them against someone or to build them up. In Chapter one of Malcolm Gladwell’s book David and Goliath, Gladwell tells the story of a man who does an amazing job of using positive words to build

              Vivek Ranadive of Mumbai had a young daughter named Anjali. She and the girls in her neighborhood had decided to start and basketball team, and Vivek was going to coach it. The interesting thing about this was that he knew very little about basketball. Anjali said, “It was really random. I mean, my father had never played basketball before” (Gladwell 19). Vivek was determined to do his best to help the girls succeed but also have fun while playing the sport. He had two main principles. The first, was that he would never raise his voice and keep his words positive and encouraging. The second, was to come up with a knew way to defend the basketball court that no one had tried before. These two principles working hand in hand got them not only to the national championships, but to go on and win the national championships that same.

         Vivekk and his teams story is amazing not only because they became national champs, but also how they got to that point. It was there hard work and Vivek’s positive reinforcement that won them that trophy. Vivek’s words are what gave those girls the confidence to make it to the top. For me it is hard to do something hard if something or someone is weighing on your confidence. If there is someone beating down on me with their words whatever it is almost impossible for me to accomplish my goal.

        There are people Beating down our self esteem everyday in the media and on tv shows, telling who we need to be, what we must look like. This picture shows what the media’s words can do to a person. They can drive us to do things we never thought we would do.

    So many magazines, tv shows, movies, blogs, are using their words to tell a girl what she needs to look like or act like. “How to be beautiful,” “Be thinner in a week,” “Diet.” Do these words make you feel good about yourself? Do they build you up in anyway? Or do they make you look at yourself to find your “flaws” that need changed? This is also not just a hard thing for woman it is also very hard for young men. They have so many things telling them they need to be super muscular, good at sports, so many different things that I think we don’t always realize. The words we say to someone even sarcastically can mean something to them because everything we say in any way means something. 

       The words that Vivek Ranadive said his basketball team brought them together and made them a better team. If you look at our world and the words its throwing at us it doesn’t feel like its bringing us together but creating a constant fight to the top. This image also symbolizes the negative expectations we feel like we have to meat and what they can do to a person and their brain.

       I know I am always thinking about how I look and making sure other people will like what they see. But this is not how I or anyone should be thinking of themselves. You are a beautiful amazing creation. And by using the power of your very own words you can make sure everyone knows this because it is true for everyone. It is an interesting contrast to me between Gladwell’s story and this image. They show these two worlds in a new light, showing what positive and negative words can do to a person. Therefore, words are powerful. You can use them to change the world or tear it to the ground. Remember this, think about the words you say and how they could affect someone.