February 2011 Entries
I receive many calls and emails every day, each one of them tragic, discouraging, and heart-breaking. Some are from women married for 25 years, who have suffered for many of those years. Some are from people who have been married 52 weeks, with a spouse saying they made a mistake in marrying in the first place. Disillusioned and discouraged after weeks, if not years of heartache, they all want out.
Have you ever considered the fact that every word you say—every word—has the power to either hurt or heal? You may think I exaggerate the power of words. A misspoken word here, a sarcastic quip there can hardly hurt a marriage, so you think. Tit for tat can’t do harm. Right? Think again.
It is impossible to go through life without not only experiencing pain, but creating it as well. Since the beginning of time, we have been inflicting pain on our mates. “You only hurt the ones you love,” are more than lyrics to a song—they are integral parts of life.
“I’m never going to get beyond this pain,” Sandy said, clutching the tissues to her face. “How could he do this to me? No one should ever do this to another human being.”
Sandy’s husband, Mike watched blankly as his wife tried to process the events of the past six weeks. She had just discovered he had been having an affair for several months. It didn’t matter that she learned about it because he had ended it and the “other woman” called her.