I love words. I come from a family where words and language were just as nutritious as the best breakfast. For my father, it was not just because of his vocation as a lawyer: it was how a word tasted, sounded, informed or felled an opponent. Words were for games of the highest order, whether in the courtroom or at the dinner table. Words simply delighted him like nothing else; many of my finest memories are of making up phrases, or “mashups” of several words for a new definition of a moment’s descriptive need. For my mother, this relentless activity drove her slightly insane, as it was wild, reckless, and without purpose. As a reading teacher and librarian, words and language were tools that took many of her students toward unexpected adventures and hopeful worlds away from growing up in families and situations (similar to her own Depression upbringing) that could be more than difficult.

That said, I am now struck by our use of “extreme” language that has come to describe our new world circumstances: “uncertain times”, “challenging events”, and “unprecedented” are the phrases I hear, throughout the day. Every day. EVERY day.

“Stay Home-Stay Safe”, “PPE”, “flatten the curve”, and the previously mentioned “social distancing” (April 2020) are part of our new decade’s lexicon. These are not fun words. They are deadly serious and rightly so. There are also new additions that bring us out of the pandemic doldrums, in our socially-distanced connections: “virtual happy hour”, “covideo party” and “quarantine and chill”. And there is the ubiquitous prefix of “corona” for various verbs and our wonder at how “corona-babies” (the children born or conceived during the pandemic) will fare.

My neighbor (a kinder-friend of over fifty years), daily reminds me that a fifty cent word will do just as well as the three dollar versions that I have long favored. And as we bicker in that life-long-friend way, we realize the power that words have had on our lives.

Words can hurt, and heal, surprise or attack—they soothe, uplift, empower, make us laugh, and ultimately provide the framework for how we live everyday. Words shape the plans we make and the actions we take.

We are living in a precarious time. Our words are the very currency for connecting, whether for positive or negative. Writer Alexandre Dumas once said, “All human wisdom is contained in these two words—wait, and hope.” So, no matter how many words you may use in these coming days, please, make them count.

Mary Oliver