Words Matter

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." So not true. Spoken or written, words can move us to action or to disposition. Words can hurt. Can heal. Can carry us into battle. Can drive us to embrace. The juxtaposition of the word "terrorist" with the word "immigrant" twists and turns the words so that they settle over one another. Dangerous. Except for Native Americans, we in the United States are "a nation of immigrants" and in the words of John Kennedy: "This was the secret of America: a nation of people with the fresh memory of old traditions who dared to explore new frontiers, people eager to build lives for themselves in a spacious society that did not restrict their freedom of choice and action." And it is this constant flow of new hope that feeds all of our dreams.