Blog Series 1- Words: Little Toy Guns

A song for this sojourn: "Little Toy Guns"

Words are powerful; words can bring life or death.

Our words can save a life or destroy one. Our biggest regrets are often times the wrong words we had said. Words can hurt and words can heal. Conflict can happen when we do not have the right words to express our needs.

During the past couple of months, I experienced the power of words - in a negative way. I found that words had the power to break a relationship and drag in a string of regret.

Country singer Carrie Underwood expresses the power of words in her song “Little Toy Guns”, as she expresses the damage caused by negative verbal communication. This song compares a classic positive childhood experience, of playing with toy guns, with a classic negative adult experience, of breaking relationships. The former is innocent and playful, the latter guilty and regretful. 

Irony spills through the words as she sings: 

“I wish words were like little toy guns, 

no sting, no hurt no one, 

just a bang bang 

rollin' off your tongue”. 

The irony lies in the fact that much damage can be done by something that seems so small and insignificant, such as a toy gun. We let words roll out of our tongue just as easily as we would point a plastic gun to someone and pretend to shoot them. We don't even think twice about the fact that the pain we cause with our words, could hurt just as much as a gunshot wound would from a real gun. 

This is a lesson that my mother has been trying to teach me all my life, and it is a lesson that I will have to re-learn over and over again. 

I encourage you to give this song a chance and listen to it, even if you do not like "country". I find that this song is more country pop than it is country twang. The music video is also very effective in getting the point across. 

Chorus:

I wish words were like little toy guns

No smoke, no bullets, no kick from the trigger when you pull it

No pain, no damage done

I wish words were like little toy guns

Just a bang bang rollin' off your tongue

I wish words were like little toy guns

Carrie Underwood - Little Toy Guns