Your Words Can Be Used Against You.

Your Words Can Be Used Against You; Watch It.

There is this popular saying of the police whenever they want to arrest people:

‘Remain silent now, or whatever you say now will be used against you in the court of law.’

Hearing that phrase from a police officer consistently, most especially in some Nollywood movies, bores me. I never sought to ponder more on those words, until one day, my words landed me in trouble. Had I known, I would have just kept my mouth shut and quietly walked away.

A conversation ensued between me and my friend one day outside his house.

The conversation was so interesting; however, it got to a point where I had to oppose him vehemently, for I was not in support of his views at all.

As a result of this, the peaceful conversation grew to become a heated argument as we began to raise our voices to show that we each had a point, not relenting.

Passers-by could not help but stare to see where or what our argument would result in. It was like a drama to them; they derived pleasure from watching us argue and fight, not in the least considering how it might end.

Thankfully, his mother, father, and two sisters came outside to settle our squabble upon hearing us argue from inside the house.

However, all efforts to settle our argument proved abortive, as we began to fight, saying words we were not supposed to say to each other as friends.

My friend pushed me out of anger, and I slapped him in the face. Then he cursed: “God will punish you, your father, your mother, and your generation.”

I was someone who never joked about family, not to talk of my posterity; I hated hearing people speak ill of my family or curse my family. I threatened to kill him if he uttered such words again, although, to me, it was just an empty threat: ‘I geh liver kill persin?’ (I cannot do it). He was stubborn, still uttering those words.

Then I cursed him too, saying that he would die, but his mother slapped me to caution me not to utter such words again, sending me back to my house.

A few days after the fight between me and my friend, I heard that my friend, the same boy I fought with, was dead, but he died of a chronic ailment he had been managing right from when he was much younger.

The news came as a shock to me. I became so frightened. Even though we had fought, he was still my friend, and I pitied his family.

In showing my concern for the deceased family, I took a step to visit them, regardless of whatever happened between me and their son.

As I stepped into the family’s house, all eyes gazed at me. His sisters stared at me angrily, as though they intended to chop off my head.

“That’s the person who killed my brother”, one of the sisters said angrily, pointing fingers at me.

“Yes, he is the one”, the other one stood up and said in agreement with her sister. “He said my brother would die,” she continued. “Now he is dead; he killed my brother!” She said, crying bitterly, as her parents tried to calm her down.

At this point, I did not know what to do—whether to start defending myself or start begging them. My conscience pricked me heavily; I felt guilty for uttering such words.

Yes, I never meant what I said; it was just an empty threat. I said those words without doing anything further to kill him, so I was innocent! But this brought to mind the portion of the bible verse that says “There is power in the tongue”,

Thus, we should be cautious of the words we utter. This reminder made me feel such guilt as if I had really killed him. My eyes were filled with tears.

Now, here is my law court, where my empty words were used against me, and I have to face the consequences in whichever way I can clear my guilt.

LESSON: Sometimes, it is not all words or arguments we should respond to; responding to some might just land us in trouble.

At times, it is better to just remain silent when disturbed emotionally, than to say terrible words that may later be used against us.

Wisdom is profitable to direct.