Words can fall hard like a boulder loosed from a cliff. Words can drift unnoticed like a weed seed on a breeze. Words can sing.
Interpretation
Words can have powerful effects, either positive or negative, depending on how they are used.
This quote highlights the diverse impact that words can have in our lives. Just like a boulder can cause destruction when it falls, words can hurt or damage relationships; conversely, words can also be gentle and uplifting, bringing joy and beauty akin to a song. The metaphor of words drifting like a seed suggests that some messages may go unnoticed yet still have the potential to grow and thrive in someone’s mind or heart.
In practice
In a speech about mental health, one might use this quote to illustrate the importance of kind words.
I’ve always believed that as an author, I do 50% of the work of storytelling, and the reader does the other 50%. There’s no way I can control the story you tell yourself from my book. Your own experiences, preferences, prejudices, mood at the moment, current events in your life, needs and wants influence how you read my every word.
The rewrites are a struggle right now. Sometimes I wish writing a book could just be easy for me at last. But when I think about it practically, I am glad it's a struggle. I am (as usual) attempting to write a book that's too hard for me. I'm telling a story I'm not smart enough to tell. The risk of failure is huge. But I prefer it this way. I'm forced to learn, forced to smarten myself up, forced to wrestle. And if it works, then I'll have written something that is better than I am.
Communication starts with the understanding that there is my point of view (my truth) and someone else's point of view (his truth). Rarely is there one absolute truth, so people who believe that they speak the truth are very silencing of others.
There is only one excuse for a speaker's asking the attention of his audience: he must have either truth or entertainment for them.
The worst thing about e-mail is that you can’t interrupt the other person. You have to read the whole thing and then e-mail them back, pointing out all their mistakes and faulty assumptions. It’s frustrating and it’s time-consuming. God bless phone calls.
People don't listen to understand. They listen to reply. The collective monologue is everyone talking and no one listening.
Basically, radio hasn't changed over the years. Despite all the technical improvements, it still boils down to a man or a woman and a microphone, playing music, sharing stories, talking about issues - communicating with an audience.
Why do people who consider themselves good communicators often fail to actually hear each other? Often it's due to a mismatch of styles: To someone who prefers to vent, someone who prefers to explain seems patronizing; explainers experience venters as volatile.
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