Words can kill

"And you've killed me / Without even touching me / Your words have done it. / They were enough. / They were more / They were adequate. / And think before / You open your mouth. / Because the weapons that spill out / How they can charm, / But they can harm / Worse still / They can kill."

A poem by an 'unknown' author

The history of mankind abounds with man's inhumanity to fellow man. In fact, history is mostly about bloodshed, carnage, extermination, homicide, massacre, murder, slaughter, slaying, in short: killings. History concerns itself with death, destruction, and deliberate killings - whatsoever be the reason, be they justifiable or not. Humans have shown to possess an inordinate propensity for killing; and man has found many novel ways, and causes, to accomplish his inclinations.

Though not realised by many people, the most common way is the use of words to kill. There is an old saying in Tamil, which roughly translates into: even if a wound caused by fire, will with time vanish; not the injury caused by words that, leave a blemish. Yes; words are worse than wounds; apart from leaving a taint, they can kill.

The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit. No human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. Words can cut just as deeply as any blade, and inflict as much damage. If silence can break a heart, a wrong word can kill the heart. "Better than a thousand pointless words is one saying to the point, on hearing which one finds peace," said the Buddha.

Reality

"Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality," said Edgar Allen Poe. Thus, one has to understand the word, and believe in it, for the word to have consequence and take effect. Apprehension and acceptance creates or relieves anxiety and fear, depending upon the situation and the circumstances, leading on to a kind of hypnosis that takes effect; either soothing or killing the mind, and the person concerned.

It is these factors that influence, and in fact are applied in, the administration of the last rites, chanting of pirith, holy verses, or mantras; so that the dying person is calmed of anxiety and fear, and sent on his way, peacefully.

These very factors are, used by the practitioners of and believers in, voodoo: the belief in sorcery, spells, charms, fetishes and witchcraft; in which many Sri Lankans indulge to this day. It is said, and many believe it to be possible, that death of a person could be brought about by voicing magical words or by casting a spell.

This only goes to prove that we do tend to believe in the power of the word, and because of it, in the uttered incantations and curses.

In medical terminology, such deaths are known as, psychosomatic death, or psychogenic death. Basically it is the term applied for, voodoo death; a term coined in 1942 by Walter Cannon, M.D. an American physiologist, professor and chairman of the Department of Physiology at Harvard Medical School. Such deaths are the phenomenon of sudden death as brought about by a strong emotional shock, such as fear.

The anomaly is recognised as, "psychosomatic" in that death is caused by an emotional response - often fear - to some suggested outside force. Voodoo death, is particularly noted in native societies; but the condition is not specific to any culture or mentality. Such deaths appear to be sudden, and for no apparent reason.

This phenomenon of sudden deaths has also been described as occurring in man, rats, and many other animals; apparently, as a result of and due to a feeling of hopelessness. Most of the toiling masses in Sri Lanka today suffer from a feeling of hopelessness, and god forbid, that sudden death does not dawn on them; or for that matter their agony induced curses do not take effect on whomsoever it may apply.

Effect

In medicine there is something known as the placebo effect. The placebo effect is the measurable, observable, or felt improvement in health or behaviour not attributable to a medication or invasive treatment that has been administered. The placebo effect is not mind over matter; it is not mind-body medicine.

'The placebo effect' has become a catch-all term for a positive change in health not attributable to medication or treatment. A placebo (Latin for "I shall please") is a pharmacologically inert substance, such as saline solution or a starch tablet, when administered, seems to produce an effect similar to what would be expected of a pharmacologically active substance such as an antibiotic.

The reason why some of us respond this way even when not given the needed medication may be psychological, but it has not, as yet been fully explained.

The change can be due to many things such as: regression to the mean, spontaneous improvement, reduction of stress, misdiagnosis in the first place, subject expectancy, classical conditioning, etc. There are a number of factors that can affect treatment and the evaluation of those treatments, making it very difficult to be sure just what it is about an intervention that produces improvement or perceived improvement.

"The physician's belief in the treatment and the patient's faith in the physician, exert a mutually reinforcing effect; the result is a powerful remedy that is almost guaranteed to produce an improvement and sometimes a cure." - Petr Skrabanek and James McCormick, Follies and Fallacies in Medicine.

As with medicine, words too have power, and in some cases mysterious power unrelated to the spoken word, similar to placebo effect. In some myths, spoken words have the ability to create worlds, creatures, and well being or damnation. Colours fade, temples crumble, empires fall, but wise words endure.

Hence, be careful of the words you say. Keep them short and sweet because you never know, from day to day, which ones you will have to eat. "All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind," said Kahlil Gibran, a Lebanese-American artist, poet, and writer.

It has not been for nothing, that the word has remained man's principal toy and tool: without the meanings and values it sustains, all of man's other tools would be worthless.

We have all been hurt by, words before; so before you speak, think about how your words might affect someone else. Words can kill, whether you mean what you say or not.

If words are to enter men's minds and bear fruit, they must be the right words shaped cunningly to pass men's defenses and explode silently and effectually within their minds.

See you this day next week. Until then,keep thinking; keep laughing. Life ismostly about these two activities.

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