Eloquent words…about words

The other day I was shopping at Tuttle’s Hallmark and a book caught my eye. 

The eye-catching red book, a part of the (PRODUCT) RED campaign, was entitled: Be Inspi(red): Words of Hope and Courage.  (I think maybe Lisa saw me coming when she bought this for the store.)  Anyway, I had no intention of buying a book when I went into the store.  I went in for a box of thank you cards!

If you aren’t familiar with (RED) here is more info: 

(RED) was created by Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA to raise awareness and money for The Global Fund by teaming up with the world’s most iconic brands to produce (PRODUCT)RED branded products. A percentage of each (PRODUCT)RED product sold is given to The Global Fund. The money helps women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

The book is absolutely beautiful, striking in its simplicity.  Well crafted and stunningly designed. There was no way I couldn’t buy it.

When I got home I immediately opened the book and began to read.   The following words greeted me as a way of introduction:

If you ever doubt the power of language, listen more closely. Witness the magic the first time someone whispers “I love you.”

Watch a woman put on headphones, close her eyes, and have her life changed by a lyric.

See a bad moment flipped upside down by a well-timed joke.

Words propel us, empower us make us human…and more than human.

We constantly struggle to say what we mean and mean what we say.

To “wrestle with words and meanings.” That’s what T.S. Eliot calls it.

But as we whisper and shout, stutter and spin, we create order out of the chaos around us. We are built of words, and we live by them, too.

Wow.  What a powerful piece of writing.  I guess it’s safe to say that I agree because I have a fundamental belief in the power of words.   Used for good, words can heal, enlighten, lift, console, educate.  Words truly do inspire. 

Every day this library staff sees someone whose life is in need of “words”.   Every day, our staff makes great effort to help connect that person with just the right words.   It’s an amazing process, sac(red) in its own way.  Last year our library tallied over 185,000 visits from citizens.  Hey, that’s a lot of word searching!

I’d like to share a couple of messages from the book that resonated with me (just a few, so I don’t have to worry about copyright):

Empowe(red)  Dig deep.  Look within.  It’s all there inside you.  Except sometimes…it’s not.  Everybody has days when all the digging deep only turns up mud.  And that’s when you hand over the shovel.  You reach out.  You let somebody give you what you can’t mine for yourself.  We are strongest together, holding hands.          

Remembe(red)  That’s the question.  What do you want to be remembered for?  It’s not really about what you made of your life.  It’s about how you made your life.  How you made the world.  Maybe just a little bit better?  Then you’re doing fine.

Perseve(red) It takes a glacier about a year to move as far as you can walk in a few minutes.  Eventually, it carves out canyons and slaps up mountains.  It permanently changes the world.  Just by keeping at it.  So can you.

I am very mindful of the value of our library’s place in our community.  And that’s why it’s so important to protect and envision the future of our very own treasure trove…of words.