Words Make a Difference

Words, especially those used by national leaders, make a difference.

The words that President Trump used in three “tweets” on, Sunday, July 14th were especially divisive. This is what he said:

Donald Trump:
“So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world [if they even have a functioning government at all], now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements.”

That those in his base would be shouting “send her back!” at his next political rally should not come as a great surprise.

A little more than a week earlier, the President had stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on the 4th of July. I wish that he had gone inside and read the words of Lincoln. Lincoln was a President, presiding over a much more divided Nation, then engaged in a catastrophic Civil War. The words of Lincoln in his second inaugural address did not attack, they did not blame, they did not attempt to divide. They were words of prayer, healing and of restoring unity to a torn country, and ended with hope for a better time: 

Abraham Lincoln:
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

Words make a big difference. They also reflect the character of those who speak them. We need to be healing the Nation’s wounds, not promoting divisions based on our fears or differences. That may be an effective election strategy, but it is not the American way that I was taught. 


Rolland Kidder
This commentary appeared in the The Post Journal on July 28, 2019

Dan Girgis