Words on Walls

If someone gave you a Sharpie and told you to write something someone said to you on your wall and you knew they would see it, what would write? If you were told to write it as big as you could so it would be harder to cover, what would it be? The thing that you wrote, would it bring shame and embarrassment to the person who said it? Would they run to the hardware store to get paint and brushes and try to cover it up? Or would they smile at what you chose and invite others to see it?

Inside each of us is a wall. It's the wall where the words of others are written.  Everyday we read the words on our walls. Most everyday new ones are written there.  But inside of us there is no hardware store to buy paint to cover the words that we don't want to read.  They stay on ours walls, sometimes becoming covered by more words, but we never forget the words covered up.  We cannot erase them.

If you were given a Sharpie to write something on someone else's wall knowing they could see it and would have a difficult time removing it, what might you leave for them?  Words of happiness or love?  Words  that would make you feel good sharing? Words you would like to see stay there forever? Or would you choose words of malice and anger? Words that would hurt and words you hope no one else sees?

You see, just because the words you speak do not show up on the walls of your home, doesn't mean they aren't permanent. You don't have to have them scrawled across in black Sharpie to have them remembered. All you have to do is speak them. They will forever be etched on the walls of the person in which you direct them.

I think if we knew our words were being written down so people could always go back and read them, we would be much more careful in what we say. If people walked into our homes and could read the dialogue within, we would think twice about attacking others and talking poorly about those around us.  How much embarrassment or shame would you suffer if someone saw all your words?

When we speak, we should speak our words as though they are being scrawled across the walls for all to view.  We should speak in a way they we would not feel shame or guilt if we were forced to read it later. We should remember that every word we say will remain on the walls of someone and while after time those words will be written on top of, they still exist underneath. They never go away.  They might leave your mouth, but that doesn't make them gone.