The strenght of words

In the real life, I'm quite a strong personality, despite my weaknesses in some areas. I have strong opinions that I believe to be the right ones in most cases. I form an opinion when I think I've got enough information to do so. In other things I do not have an opinion, and I irritate people by answering to a question, that I don't know, I haven't got an opinion on that. They insist on getting some kind of an answer, but if I feel I don't have enough information to give an opinion, I won't.

 

Today a friend, not the closest friend I've got, but a person I admire for her very kind heart and mothering skills, told someone that during a rough patch in her life I sent her an SMS message that still gives her strength. I was gob smacked, as I remember writing that message. It was a half hearted attempt to express compassion, that took me a long time to write, as I couldn't find words that wouldn't feel pretentious to me. I ended up writing a message on behalf of my dog that she used to take out. It turned out to be the right thing to do, as the two are best friends. This was about 3 years ago.

 

This has happened before. My best friend quoted me from 10 years before the day. I didn’t remember saying that at all; even though it did sound like something I could have said. She said that she has carried that around ever since, and gets strength from that.

 

Imagine, what you said can have a very long lasting effect even if you didn’t think it was that meaningful at all. It is exciting, and at the same time horrifying. Sometimes I give people strength through my words, but my words are usually something far off from compassion. I can slice people up with my words, and I have done that as well. Nobody has come back to tell me so, but I’ve been told to be cold and vicious, so I guess that applies. When I write online, I might have one person in mind to aim my words to. They can be read by anyone though. How can I know, if I haven’t caused someone to go into a deep state of depression, when she or he read the right words in the wrong time?