How Our Words Honor Our Lives
We are living in a time in history when inflammatory language soars to the forefront of every waking hour, and honoring others with our words is becoming a lost art. Algorithms and humans are behind it all, but regardless of how or why this is happening, it causes me to continually reflect on the deeply important work of an heirloom biographer.
Aside from knowing the art of the interview, we also practice the art of teasing out the invisible threads of a life and heralding it.
There are disadvantages to being an author; because your life is focused on writing, editing, and rewriting, your family and friends rarely write you an expressive note, fearing their choice of words won’t stand up. But a dear friend of mine recently wrote me a poem I’d like to share, because it means so much to me.
It begins:
There’s a beautiful woman, all fierce and free
Who’s built a wee village with kindness and tea.
Warrior, survivor, she knows joy and despair,
Honoring shadows and light with singular flare.
And ends:
So let’s raise a toast to her sparkle and grit,
Her courage, her mischief, her unshakable wit.
Pacifist, mother, canoeist and friend,
May her story flow on on a sweet upward trend.
Like many in my generation, I was trained not to brag on myself nor tout any achievements…which is exactly why Jane’s poem means so very much to me.
Here at Real Life Stories and my partner company, Life Book Memoirs, part of our passion is in knowing that we have taken the details of a person’s life, including the seemingly mundane, and crafted them into a story, into a memoir, that is compelling and complete. A Lifebook, a memoir that lets anyone and everyone see how this person was challenged, how this person fought the odds and did it their way. How this person contributed, in his or her own way, to the lives of others, to the locality, to history.
Knowing how our words matter, I encourage you to choose your words wisely, and with kindness, and with a warm light cast on those of whom you speak…beginning with yourself.