[ 9 ] 8-Words Fatale
swords = silly words
"My child, words are like weapons, use them wisely," so the elder told the minor.
They say it because they know we don't know it and if we knew, we won't believe it. How can we believe that? What makes of the dictionary, the Devil? Indeed.
That double-edged sword had its praises in kudos but its far-reaching ills, remembered only by the pains it had caused, is less than benevolent. It's not a weapon; it's much more than that.
Used with a good intention, it behaves like a honey, soothing a tattered throat. When the intention sours, the blade is sharpened and the speaker can find his/her ways to the left side of the chest. Plunge it in, the reckless mind yearns. There is no difficulty. The blade had so long been honed to deal the damage. It had waited ages to take its toll on another whose guard had been let low thanks to that other deceiving side of the blade. The stab takes no effort. It's probably even unplanned.
The dictionary does the perfect job in making it even more lethal; it dips the blade in a vessel of poison. When our mouth throttles off unleashed, the blade cuts skin-deep at first, wiping the lightness of the conversation into a bleak hush. Time is on its side for it to bleed into the flesh. Then, the heart awaits its impending doom.
A surge of adrenaline rushes as the signals of a puncture spreads to the mind via the convenient neurons. And so the blade etched itself into the heart.
Withdrawing, as the user sensed the damage, the blade leaves in its wake, a trail of toxins. The victim's immune system is triggered like an unstoppable assailant cringed by vengence. There will be no mercy to talk about, the laceration had already been done.
You can of course re-open the wound and attempt a remedy but silly, the person probably won't let you. The immune system did a great job.
*
That is why seasoned speakers take heed not attack the heart. Pick the hair, scrap the teeth or at the most clip a nail. They've had it coming, probably many times before. Just enough remind them to keep their weapons of mass destruction to themselves.
Sheath the blade.
Some had stood by the line: the best communicators are listeners.
Me? I haven't learnt it really. By experience or by others' experiences, it's best better learnt than speaking itself. And they say, "A picture's worth a thousand words."

