The Power Of Spoken Word

A couple of years ago, a man with a gun attempted to highjack a school bus in Columbia, South Carolina. The bus was filled with younger elementary students, including a lot of kindergartners. But the commandeer let them all go because the kids would not stop talking to him and asking him questions. “Are you going to hurt us?” “Are you going to hurt our bus driver?” “Why do you want our bus?"

Instead of cowering in fear, they engaged the man. And the man could not handle the “open and fearless engagement.” So he pulled over and let them all go.

Besides the laugh I got, remembering my three own children's incessant questioning about everything when they were that age, I realized there’s also a good lesson in this. It exposes the power of open communication.

When facing a conflict, a threatening situation, or a controversy, the worst thing we can do is shut down communication with those we are in conflict with. That may be a natural response to fear or anger, but it accomplishes nothing. In this day of cancel culture and divisive media and politics, where there is little reasonable and healthy debate, we’ve spiraled into near chaos.

Open, reasonable, and respectful dialog is the only thing short of Jesus’ return that will sort out the chaos. Our nation’s founding fathers understood how important open communication was in the middle of conflict, which is why the First Amendment was the first amendment.

But it’s not just in politics where we are suffering from cancel culture. It’s also in our homes. Husbands yell over their wives’ spoken concerns; wives clam up (and vice versa). It’s a form of relational cancel culture, and it’s killing some of your marriages, relationships with your kids, and effectiveness with your coworkers. Ending communication by manipulative angry outbursts or clamming up (which is also manipulative), only ends the possibility of finding a solution to whatever problem you are up against.

On the other hand, as the kindergartners on that bus in Columbia, South Carolina demonstrated, open, reasonable, and honest discourse, without fear or anger, drives away evil and produces a solution.

Let’s learn that lesson in our families, friendships, schools, church, and nation.