What Is the Real Value of Words?

What Is the Real Value of Words?
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Recently, while I was going to another city by bus, a gypsy with a small child came inside the bus before its departure. She was asking for money claiming that a child has been seriously ill and needed the operation. Some people would give little money, some wouldn't. When a gypsy left the bus, a stout man approached her. She would give the money to him and we could see them walking to a cheap café nearby. No one was really surprised. We all know that people lie, and they would continue lying just to get the money or some benefits from others. At that moment I was struck with the thought: "So what's the real value of words? And should we still trust people?"

Since early years the children are taught not to trust strangers. But does it concern only strangers? Can we ever be sure that people who are close to us speak the truth? A year ago my friend's cousin saw her husband going hand-in-hand and kissing another woman. It was the day of their wedding anniversary. She got divorced afterwards learning not to trust even close people. Unfortunately, there are a lot of sad stories like this. People gathering money for the soldiers or very sick people spend this money on their own needs. "Not everyone like this," one might argue. True, not everyone, but... Is it so easy to distinguish false words from true ones? I don't think so. We all want to believe in idealistic notions and have feelings of sympathy, kindness, pity, regret... Unfortunately, those feelings become the main target for manipulation. And love is not an exception.

True love can be something that would bring us enormous joy and happiness. Love can change us for better. On the other hand, love can make us feel inferior, jealous, insecure and unhappy. How can it be? The answer is quite simple. It is just not true love, but a manipulative behavior of one person towards the other one. As a reward, this manipulative person might not need the money (like in a case with the gypsy), but rather attention, care, devotion, giving nothing in return. We all want to experience true and mutual love. That's why simple words like: "I love you. You are so special" might make us believe that we've found true love without even doubting those words. And when it wasn't said genuinely, we might feel disappointed, insecure and unhappy.

Unfortunately, very often words are used as a way of manipulation and, thus, become just meaningless sounds. It's much more important to show love by actually doing something. I am quite sure that by presenting a girl with a special gift, like golden or silver rose, a symbol of love that will stay forever alive, will speak about true love and care much more than simple, banal words, as they only have value when they are sincere and can be confirmed by real deeds.

Once I was sitting near the lake and heard some people talking about the importance of preserving the nature. During that time a small bird fell into the lake and couldn't fly. It was rather cold and the lake was dirty. The people continued talking and their words were nice and deep. A boy sitting opposite, without saying a word, jumped into the water, took that trembling bird and put it on the grass...

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