As a retired teacher of many years who loves words, both spoken and written, my thoughts today are filled with memories of the effect my own words have had on the treasured people in my life.
At the early age of 17, I started out teaching seniors in high school who were older than I was. I really had to watch my words with them. I quickly learned that words have a great deal of power and that I had to be responsible for whatever words came out of my mouth or from my pen. They can either heal with love or hurt with hate. From the Bible we can receive affirmation of this truth.
Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who make it a friend shall eat its fruit.
After reading about the soldiers who may have mistreated prisoners, my first thought was: "If they are guilty of such outrageous abuse, those soldiers must never have experienced love from anyone." If they had ever been loved, surely their moral sense would never have allowed them such inhumane behavoir. People who have been truly loved would know, instinctively, that such behavior, even in war time, is unacceptable.
Perhaps these young soldiers hate been away from their families and have been living in a foreign land too long. Perhaps they are hostile about 9/11 and feel the need from revenge. Maybe they were overworked. There may be a plethora of other elements that tempted them to be cruel...None are any excuse. Yet we can't stant in judgement of them until we have walked in their shoes.
My prayers are with them and for those they abused. Let the hate stop. Hatred begets hatred but love shared, brings blessings to all.