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March 12th 2010
A few years ago there was an announcement made, that circulated very quickly. It said that Gerber Products (who make baby food) was being sued in a class action law suit. To settle the claim Gerber would give $500 to any families, with small children, who would simply fill out the claim form.
Word got out like wild fire and the claim form was copied and sent out to hospitals, schools and businesses. Many companies put a claim form in every employee’s pay envelope. Teachers sent notices home to parents with their children.
Within days, Gerber Products was inundated with thousands of letters submitting the appropriate forms and asking for the free $500 cheque. They also received 18,000 phone calls within three weeks!
The problem was, the announcement that had been repeated thousands of times, was a lie. Someone simply made it up. A funny joke? Gerber didn’t think so—the original notice cost nothing to produce, but Gerber products ended up paying out millions of dollars to fight and eventually squelch the false promise. On top of that, thousands of sincere young parents were hurt and disappointed in the process. Everybody lost!
Writing about the power of our words, James, the half-brother of Jesus, used three graphic metaphors to describe both, the good and the bad that can result from what we say. Here’s what he wrote:
Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire.
The first picture he painted was of a powerful horse with a bit in his mouth. Any of us who have ridden a horse can easily see how the bit s like our words. Although the rider may be much smaller than his steed, he can turn it to the right or to the left simply by pulling on the bit with his reins. We can ride the horse to our chosen destination, or we can lead it over a cliff to our death. Like the Gerber rumor, our words can lead to a healthy purpose or can cause great devastation.
Then James wrote about the rudder on a ship. Whether a city-sized cruise ship or a one-man sailboat, the relatively small rudder sets its direction. Our words that we choose to use have the power to point our personal lives and relationships toward a peaceful and healthy destination; or they can direct us to possible loss and death.
Thirdly, he used the graphic metaphor of a fire. A fire can either heat our homes when contained in a furnace, or destroy our homes when out of control.
Whether we’ve ever experienced an out of control fire or not, likely each of us has seen the negative effect of uncontrolled words. If we are married, have children or even work alongside other people with tongues, we’ve seen the damage a misguided word can cause. Like Gerber products experienced, it can often take years to clean up the mess caused by an unwise, ill-timed or untrue comment
- Barry Buzza
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