Unkind words once uttered can never be retrieved.  I’m sure that everybody has heard this before.  Everybody knows that words can leave lasting impressions.  I can remember unkind words stretching back to my childhood.  Likewise, I can remember words of kindness,  but it seems that harsh words somehow have more of an effect, although everybody has different sensitivities.

     Even when such harsh or kind words are forgotten, I believe that their effects can build up over the years, influencing the character of a person.  Imagine a young child given words of kindness and support, and then compare this child’s life to one who was exposed to harsh critical words.  Such words accumulate like the cement that binds one’s life together, permeating its essence and coloring the outlook and attitudes towards life.

     That’s one reason that I try so hard to not say hurtful words to other people.  Whenever I slip up and do this, as has just happened, such words come back at me with renewed force, and I always end up feeling perfectly awful about it.