A Matter of Life and Death

Courtesy aviancaflight52.com

Sometimes saying the right thing can make a difference between life and death.

On January 25, 1980 Avianca Flight 52 crashed into Cove Neck, Long Island because it ran out of fuel after a series of delays related to the weather.  One of the main reasons the flight ran out of fuel was that in its communication with the air traffic controllers the Avianca crew used the word "priority" instead of  "emergency".  The air traffic controllers had no idea as to the seriousness of the situation, and the airliner crashed into the countryside killing 73 of the 158 people on board.

Words Matter

This situation came to mind when I was thinking about how the words we use not only can make concept easier or more difficult to understand, but also can affect the way we live our lives.  I'm referring mainly to words that have similar, but not exactly the same, meanings.  Regarding the explanation of concepts, the word difficult is better than hard because hard has a broad set of definitions while difficult has a more narrow set.  In regards to how a word can affect the way in which we live our lives if we view problems as challenges then it frames the situation in a more positive light.

Spinning Until We're Sick

When typing that last sentence I couldn't help but think about what are commonly referred to as "spin doctors".  A spin doctor's job involves putting things into a more positive light than they truly are to help maintain the public image of a person or corporation.  I'm not talking about becoming like that where like a little child on a playground merry-go-round we want to spin faster and faster until we can't see straight and ultimately fall flat on our face (or worse yet, vomit, then fall).  I would classify such language as a euphemism where we make things sound nicer than reality.  What I am encouraging people to do is instead of making things seem better than they are, simply don't make them worse.

Making Canyons out of Culverts

Let's face facts, life on this earth can be quite discouraging.  To simply gloss over reality is not only annoying to most people, but also can be dangerous to our well-being because if everything is sunshine and rainbows then we won't seek help for the various situations in which we find ourselves.  In addition, "seeing the bright side of things" can be too much to ask of many people.  So as a first step, let's simply not to make things seem worse than they need to be.  However, as you probably expect, there is much more to it than that.

Speaking Faith

The 19th century Christian author E.G. White once wrote the following words.

"Take the word of Christ as your assurance. Has He not invited you to come unto Him? Never allow yourself to talk in a hopeless, discouraged way. If you do you will lose much. By looking at appearances and complaining when difficulties and pressure come, you give evidence of a sickly, enfeebled faith. Talk and act as if your faith was invincible. The Lord is rich in resources; He owns the world. Look heavenward in faith. Look to Him who has light and power and efficiency."  Christ's Object Lessons pg. 146

 "By the exercise of living faith you can separate from everything that is not in accordance with the mind of God, and thus bring heaven into your life here below. Doing this, you will have sunshine at every step. When the enemy seeks to enshroud the soul with darkness, sing faith and talk faith, and you will find that you have sung and talked yourself into the light"  Counsels to Parents, Teachers and Students pg. 233

That second quotation hit me especially hard (in a good way).  If we sing and talk faith, we can sing and talk ourselves out of the darkness and into the light, or from death unto life.  So let's make our words agents of life for ourselves and for all who will listen to us.