More Than Words.

What's funny?
Again I have to ask... what's funny?
This blog post won't be.
But for once, that's okay. 

This past weekend I attended Frog Camp Training and was given the opportunity to watch the TCU spoken word production called "More Than Words." It's sort of a rite of passage for all incoming freshmen to experience, and it centers around the power of words.
Words.
Words of hatred, words of fear, words of ignorance, intolerance, words that spread anger, and words that cause pain. Words that leave scars much deeper than skin.
Words that are more than words.
Words that are knives. Bombs. Gunshots ripping through the soul of a human. 
Words that are maimed, twisted, and turned into weapons of destruction.
They aren't just words.
They weren't just kidding.
In this class we haven't really delved deeper into the depths of the darker side of humor.
Who wants to face that? The fact that people can take something so beautiful and light and mutilate it into a channel of hate... it's not a laughing matter. 
They aren't just words.
They weren't just kidding.

It's only a joke, right?
As we've learned from our Humor Around the World presentations, each society seems to have their go-to group to place as the butt of their jokes. Some of these are silly examples of stereotypes that leave no lasting impression on the teller or audience... but sometimes they mean more.
Sometimes they're mean more than they're funny.
Sometimes jokes provide an opportunity to express a racial thought in a socially acceptable way.
Sometimes jokes provide the lighter fluid to ignite a fire of hate toward another group of people based on things the civil rights movement worked to counteract.

They aren't just words.
They weren't just kidding.

"Making fun" of someone is such an odd term. How can you "make fun" of another person, when the connotation is that the target is left hurting? Whose fun are you making? How is it "fun" if it causes pain? I don't see the fun. I see the pain. 


Sticks and Stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me.

Lies.
The amount of stories of bullying and teasing that lead to effects of depression and suicide are real.
The aftershock that words can leave on a person's psyche is real.

Everyone remembers some comment that affected them. That left them wondering "is it true?" or "does everyone think that?" Some comment that left them questioning themselves, and left them doubting. Left them crying, left them hurting. Left them a shell of what they once were.
Snide, sarcastic remarks that elicit a ripple effect on the recipient.

They aren't just words.
They weren't just kidding.

They're everywhere. Bullying and word based wars aren't left in the dramatic locker and lip-gloss filled days of seventh grade girl cliques. 
No.
They're here and now. In college campuses around the world.

Jokes, right?
It's just a party theme.
it's a joke.
I'm not really a racist!
That's so funny!
I was only joking.

well... that might be so, but just think.

Jokes are a catalyst of thought. 

Watch your thoughts. 
They become words. 
Watch your words. 
They become deeds.
Watch your deeds.
They become habits. 
Watch your habits. 
They become your character. 
Watch your character.
it becomes your destiny.


Personally, my destiny is to use words for good.
To use them to heal.
To use them to change the world.

words are powerful.
words are limitless.
words are 

more.

than.

words.