Day 3: No Band-Aid Big Enough

The destructive impact of words can last a long time, deeply affecting the course of a person’s life, compromising their self-esteem, and eroding their significant relationships.

To make matters worse, once said, words are virtually impossible to retract.

Carl Sandburg, American poet and author, said, “Be careful with your words. Once they are said, they can only be forgiven, not forgotten.”

Consider this: Something we say about a person might cause them to lose a job, a business opportunity, or even a spouse. How can we fix that?

Once upon a time in a small Jewish town, there was a young man who was a real gossip. As Rosh Hashanah was approaching, he decided he wanted to make things right, so he went and asked the town Rabbi.

“Rabbi, I spread some awful rumors about my neighbors. Oy! Now what can I do?” he asked.

The Rabbi told him to go and get a feather pillow, climb up to the roof with it, tear it open, and shake out all the feathers into the wind.

The young man thought this sounded like a strange way to repair the awful rumors he had spread, but he dutifully followed the Rabbi’s instructions, and went back to see what to do next.

“Now, I want you to go and collect every single one of those feathers,” the Rabbi said. The young man was stunned.

“But, Rabbi, I can’t possibly gather up every one of those feathers. There are so many of them, and they’ve blown all over town,” he said.

“You’re right,” said the Rabbi. “You can’t. Nor can you repair the damage caused by all the lashon hara you said. We must be very careful with how we use our words.”

Daily To-Do:
Think of some words that affected you deeply from a long time ago and how they impact you today.