Never should the power of words be underestimated. There is more power held in one word itself than there is in anything else. For, with words you can motivate, with words you can provoke, with words you can build a whole world and no one would know the better of it. With them, you can articulate an idea and as we know, “ideas are bulletproof.” A V for Vendetta reference, you could hardly expect me to resist.
The words that pierce your brain can shape everything you say or do, henceforth. For these words become embedded in your brain, much like a seed. And this seed, as time passes, grows. Why else would the idea that “words are power” be as prevalent as it is.
There are, however, certain sayings and phrases that because of their prevalence in society, the real implication of what they mean are lost on the person and he, without any regard for anything, says it for it is a part of the norm. Remarks that are deemed disparaging by every moral etiquette are treated no differently from any other remark made. An opprobrious example of this, Is the belittling of those who work as janitors or exert themselves at workshops. Their profession infers them contemptible in the eyes of society, and their example is used to motivate children to work, so they do not end up in a position such as theirs. Thus again, this idea of their ‘inferiority’ becomes a part of the young child’s thoughts without any realization that this implication is wrong.
Language acts as a mean of communication between a group of people, which results in an introduction to new ways and ideas and thus ultimately, an increase in knowledge. This socialization will instill in him a set of moral values that will become his code of life and will help forge his personal identity. As such, the inoculation of ideas begins as soon as the child sets foot into the world and as aforementioned, forms the basis of his personality.
This use of words for belittling is used in another case that is in the context of the transgender portion of our community. The mention of their name is often used as a means to insult by the society we reside in. The unfair part of this is that these transgender did not ask for this fate to be thrusted on them, this was nature’s work and nor could they have asked for this after experiencing the repugnance with which they are treated and the ostracization they faced.
These linguistic prejudices are not all; religious discrimination too partakes a role here. The stereotype of how other religious groups apart from Muslims in Pakistan, religious minorities per se, are generally in a lower rung of the professional ladder and are debased by the assumption that they are all a part of the janitorial staff, or at least without any attributes that would counter this belief.
The statement that all humans are equal, and this equality should reign across the world is mentioned often but implementing this is, In fact, a much harder task. Putting aside all differences of either caste, creed, race, gender, sexual orientation or anything for that matter is another thing, quite entirely. The man himself has created These barriers and as such, cannot be removed unless he wills it to be done.
Not doing so hinders any progress the country aims to achieve. It is us, as society as a whole who must bring about this change, if not for basic humanitarian reasons, but for our country then if that isn’t motivation enough. The words we so callously use should be carefully weighed: that is, the entirety of their effect realized. “We, ourselves must be the regulators of ourselves, for it is us that form a society from which the heart of a country, a nation is born.”
