Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Words matter

Words, he often wrote, are themselves sacred, God’s tool for creating the universe, and our tools for bringing holiness—or evil—into the world. He used to remind us that the Holocaust did not begin with the building of crematoria, and Hitler did not come to power with tanks and guns; it all began with uttering evil words, with defamation, with language and propaganda. Words create worlds, he used to tell me when I was a child.—Susannah Heschel in Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays, viii

<idle musing>
A timely reminder, as we have a president who gushes lies and hate. What he says matters—not in the way he thinks, but in the world that his words are building. Is that the world you want to live in? I don't! It's not a godly looking world; there is no shalom in it.
</idle musing>

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