“People talk so recklessly when they talk about other people,”
Roman said,
talking about someone else.
He placed his coffee on the table
and continued his convoluted thought,
“There is a finite amount of space in our brains,
and I just think that we need to be more responsible
with what we fill it with.
We could be meditating on peace and love,
but instead we cease thinking
the second we start talking about other people.”
“Do you really think that’s true?”
his interlocutor challenged,
“I mean,
it’s not like I’m actively harming anyone
by opening my mouth.
Speech is only harmful to people
when they let it be harmful to them.”
“Are your nerves to blame, then,
for the pain you feel when I punch you in the arm?”
Roman responded,
"Is your skin left with any other option but to separate
when someone marries a blade to your stomach?
Words are weapons, Friend,
and until you understand that,
I’m not sure you know what love is.”
“Words as weapons makes for bullet holes in everyone.
How am I to speak at all if I am paralyzed,
scared of speaking?”
“Words are wonder, too, Friend.
And until you understand that,
I’m not sure you know what love is.”
“Words as wonder might make them complicit.
How am I to speak at all if I am to paralyze them,
lackadaisical and lazy?”
“Affirmation does not inspire apathy.
Wonder inspires movement.
Wonderful words are seeds in a garden in the first place.
Love grows from the water that is the act of listening.”
“Words as affirmation might make them think
they are loved the way they are,
needless to change."
“Exactly,"
said Roman
just an experiment with two people: a privileged guy named Roman and a nameless interlocutor