Earliest experience where language had power…

What was my earliest experience where I realized that language had power? I think I’d have to say it was a while ago…

I can remember seeing Dr. Martin Luther King marching through street after street, with hordes of people following him, on our little TV as a girl. His words seemed profound and righteous as he spoke truth to power, trying to overcome racial hatred and bias. I remember thinking how brave he was, but also how concerned, too, that this man would be martyred. It wasn’t long before my fears came true. That seems a long time ago to me now, but here we are again revisiting that hateful schism in America which is festering into one endless shooting after another. I want to do my part in healing these old, recurring wounds, but it’s hard to see how I can. Can little books like BeakSpeak reach enough children that they can get adults to change their world in time for them to safely grow up? I worry about it all the time. I have great-grand nieces and nephews. I want them to live free from harm. As it is, they can’t even go trick or treating anymore, or wait for the school bus without a parent present.

Whether you believe in a God, or a higher power, or just the planet, we are all made from the same stardust. How can that make me more important than the tiniest of birds, much less another human being? I’m counting on BeakSpeak to get that conversation stated, because I can see that, with world-wide, mass migration already underway, mounting conflict will continue to wreak havoc and spill blood. We need more little books like BeakSpeak, reminding all of us that red chickens aren’t bad just because they are red, and that short chickens, like Fill-the-Space Chase, don’t diminish in quality just because they are diminutive in size. As well, the mechanics in speaking and writing problems don’t keep the message from being a worthy and powerful one. BeakSpeak is my little two-in-one package for creating another kind of brave person like Martin Luther King. It contains the power to rekindle his or her message, and the methods to help deliver it.