Words Do Make a Difference

I was leaving the restaurant as a family of three entered and the host asked if there were three and while the mother said yes, the father said, “Well, 2 ½.” I stopped in my tracks. True, the child with them was only about 3 feet tall, but how does that make her a “½”? Though not fully grown, she is fully human. Does that mean our children don’t count as a whole until they have stopped growing? I am sure this man didn’t intend to demean the life of his child, but words do make a difference. What does a child think when they are only counted as half?

I remember reading a story during 40 Days for Life last year about a man praying in front of an abortion clinic. A couple was headed into the door of the abortion mill and this man yelled out, “We love you – all three of you.” The couple hesitated ever so slightly, but then entered the clinic. A short while later they came out and walked up to the man and told him they decided not to abort. It wasn’t until he said all three of them were loved that they realized the baby was real and deserved life and love. Words do make a difference. What if he had just said he loved them, instead of all three of them?

When a woman is pregnant we often say that she is expecting a baby. But since words do make a difference, let’s be truthful here. A woman who is pregnant, a mother, already has a baby – a baby that resides within her. What she is expecting is the birth of that baby. She is awaiting the day she can hold that beautiful life in her arms and not just within her womb. Same thing for grandparents who say they are expecting a new grandchild. The grandchild is already alive, already here on this earth with us, they just haven’t been born. The grandparents, like the parents, are awaiting the birth of the child. To be able to see the life that started 9 months before appearing.

We need to remember that our words do make a difference. Are we using life affirming words or words which diminish the value of life, even if just a little bit?