The Power of Words
There is a saying in Tai Chi: “Four ounces to move a thousand pounds.” The idea is to figure out how you can do this. Using very little to have an effect on a greater amount. The simple answer is a “rope”. Four ounces of rope, when passed through the ring in a bull’s nose, will allow a farmer to lead or move the thousand-pound bull.
But that’s too simple. We need to look deeper into this thought. In many philosophical beliefs and practices, the question asked is not asked to receive an answer as blunt as a “rope”, but something deeper. As I thought deeper into this idea of movement … since my philosophy of training and my philosophy of life both are tied to MOVEMENT, I spent several days working my mind through this concept.
It’s funny how my mind, and maybe yours, works. When I focus very hard on an idea or a concept, I became literal, in my thinking. I was thinking within the metaphorical “box” from where I read the statement. I was thinking real-world, mechanical uses to ‘move’ items.
I was trying to apply it to weight lifting and improving speed and agility. I was actually trying to move a weight or a person. I was pounding the square peg into the round hole … I knew if I kept pounding it would eventually “fit”. But it wouldn’t be what I was looking for.
The harder I thought, the more difficult the concept came for me to apply to a talk that I might be able to give in the future. The question, “Four ounces to move a thousand pounds”, is a solid question to ask a large group of people. Maybe not a group of farmers or ranchers who have cattle. I could see popping this question to a group of Future Farmers of America (FFA) youth and in unison they would all yell out, “A ROPE”.
So, I put it on the back burner. I saved the quote in a book of possible speaking ideas. And I moved on with my life. Three months later I was preparing a presentation to be used as the officiant at Sarah and Tyler Nesbitt’s wedding (Read: Dancing in the Rain blog). And I finally figured it out. Like I said earlier, it’s funny how our minds work. I will obsess on an idea and find no place to use it. But then I get away from it and kind of forget about it and that’s when I find the answer.
Sometimes we can pressure ourselves so much that we are blinded by our “need” to have an answer. I was terrible at test taking in school. During the week leading to the test, I was really smart, I had all the answers. Come test day … all of those great answers were gone. I stressed myself to such an extent my grade did not show how much I really knew about the subject.
The same thing happened here. I try to force myself to think of a great answer, when all I had to do was walk away from the problem for a while and wait for inspiration to finally come to me. And while formulating the perfect words for Sarah and Tyler the whole puzzle about the ‘four ounces and the thousand pounds’ came to me.
As I worked on the ceremony, I found I was trying to come up with a way to reach the assembled at the wedding by crafting my stories and my words. DING DING DING – I was trying to MOVE over 200 people with my WORDS! I wasn’t trying to physically move them but to move them emotionally and spiritually.
The “four ounces / thousand pound” idea and the ceremony I was working on began to come together. I wouldn’t use the Asian philosophy in my talk but the understanding that the idea: “To Move” can be taken in several different ways. Began opening up new ideas on how to make a Keynote Speech.
My entire written presentation, for the wedding, was about three pages. I quickly googled how much a piece of paper weighed. I found that a single sheet of regular typing paper weighed .1760 ounces. When I multiplied the weight of three pieces of paper, the length of my script, I found it was just over a half of an ounce (.528 ounces) so instead of physically moving more than a thousand pounds (200 people) I was trying to “move” them with my words.
This took me on a huge tangent of thinking about the power of words. And how they move us every day. Words help move us to tears, to laughter, to war, to peace, to joy, to sadness, to wherever we can be taken.
The same words can move an assembled people in different ways.
Dr. Martin Luther King’s, “I Have a Dream” speech was written on three pages. Less than half an ounce, moved part of the nation one way and another cross section in different way. Not even within his own race did Dr. King’s words mean the same thing. But the power that was contained on that half of an ounce of paper, still lives today in our hearts. I still watch in awe as the man stands on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial speaking those powerful words that ring true, as much today as they did the day, Dr. King shared his vision.
Winston Churchill rallied his country with his words. In his “We Will Fight on the Beaches” speech. He used nearly an ounce of paper (.968 oz = 5.5 pages) to motivate England to not capitulate and surrender in its darkest hour. Because of Churchill’s words, England stood strong and never gave in during World War II.
In 1942, Mahatma Gandhi moved his country towards independence from Britain in his “Quit India” speech. He did this with only one page (.1760 oz).
The champion of using less to do more was Abraham Lincoln. His Gettysburg address was written on the back of an envelope. (A piece of paper holds around 500 typed words). He read them in two minutes. But in these 272 words he set a framework that would change the way this country proceeded from that point on.
This concept of using words to move people is not only the dominion of politicians. I have been blessed with the opportunity to watch some of country music’s top songwriters at work. Two or three times a year the head of DDP Worldwide Entertainment Management Dennis Petty, and his wife Diana, open their home up for a few select writers from Nashville, Tennessee to come out to Arizona and write music with one of Dennis’ clients; an up-and-coming country music singer and songwriter Josh Roy.
I sit back and watch the writing process, like a fly on the wall. I try not to move or react one way or another because I don’t want to disturb these amazing men and women from accomplishing their passion.
Music is a huge part of my life. I reference it several times in Move or Die. I listen to it every day I am in my outer office (my covered patio). Music and its words are so ingrained in my head that three days of the week I only listen to meditational music because other songs, and the artists who sing them, are connected to events in my life. If I try to write and a Springsteen or Beatles song comes up on my playlist, I am transported to “that time when we …”.
One time in Seattle the actor / rapper / entrepreneur Ice Cube was in town for a concert and stopped by the football facility. Pete Carroll, the head football coach of the Seattle Seahawks, was always open for visitors to bring in words of wisdom from their lives.
Pete asked Cube to talk to the team. After he finished some of the players started to sing his song “It Was a Good Day”, soon the whole team and the coaching staff were singing along, the rapper stood there stunned and then he said, “Hell yeah” and joined in. His words, from his life, had reached and touched each individual in that room, I’m sure in different ways, but that doesn’t change the fact that his words have power.
The most important usage of words that move are how we speak when our children and loved ones are around us.
We don’t need to be necessarily speaking to them, and they will pick up our words. Case in point: My son learned his first “swear” word … not from me … but from my wife when she was nearly part of an accident because of the actions of another driver. My wife let the word slip in the moment. At the time Alex didn’t respond. But the next time someone cut her off, Alex had the word loaded and ready to be used, and he let it rip. My wife and her mother were a little shocked when this innocent child not only used the word, but used it in the correct time and space.
People are always listening to us. Whether you know it or not. It may be at work, at home, in line at Chipotle restaurant, or at church. Because of this, we are being judged all of the time by what comes out of our mouths. The words you use can lift people or turn them away from you. Use the power that your words have to motivate people to continue to fight and move forward down their path.
Remember four ounces might be able to move a thousand pounds, but a half of ounce of paper filled with the right words can move the world.
Have an amazing day!!
