Simple Words

“Thank-you,” “Sorry”; simple words we learn to say as children.

Sometimes we use them just to be polite. We say them to strangers. To the man who lets you jump ahead of you in the grocery line when you only have to buy a carton of milk. To the child who holds the door open for you at the dentist’s office. To the woman you bump by mistake at Starbucks. To the old man who you inadvertently jump in front of in the line for coffee at church.

Sometimes we use them as a weapon. We fill them with sarcasm like a snake fills its prey with venom. To the lady at McDonalds who messed up your order. To the person we cut off in traffic after they won’t let us merge.

And sometimes we use them say things the heart cannot express.

Last week I had a few simple words spoken to me, words I will remember for a long time. I volunteered at our church’s arts camp as an art teacher. At the end of the week I was cleaning up just as the last group of the day was finishing. Most kids were running around the room screaming, laughing, or crying. But this one girl, maybe 11 years old, helped me clean up all the art supplies, picked up all the tiny scraps of paper covering the floor, and pushed the chairs, all without being asked. And then she came to me and said those simple words: “Thank-you.”

Earlier that week at arts camp we were discussing how art can be used to express emotion. We talked about different emotions and what colors remind us of each feeling: maybe blue for happy, red for angry, yellow for worried, and black for sad. Then we shared times each of us had felt those emotions. One girl said that she felt very sad at her uncle’s funeral. “That is sad,” I told her, and then I shared how I too had recently lost someone, my grandfather. Then one of the boys turned to me, he was maybe 11 or 12 years old. He looked into my eyes and said that simple word: “Sorry.”

And in those moments I was reminded at the power we hold. Words can be used for good or for evil; they hold great power to both build up and tear down. My life was changed by those two beautiful children and their simple words.

So if you’re feeling like you don’t know what to say, like you couldn’t possible tell someone how much something they did means to you or how much your heart aches for them, try just using simple words.