Choose your words with care

I've said it many times: Words matter.

These days, words can travel faster than they are spoken. That is, rather than traveling at the speed of one person telling another who tells another and so on -- i.e., the water-cooler, neighborhood-gossip, old-fashioned way -- now words travel at the speed of light. Our new way of communicating, of using our words -- our words that matter -- is at the speed of light. At the speed of a tweet, millions of people can "hear" what you say.

If you followed the Kobe Bryant / Gayle King / Lisa Leslie / Snoop Dogg / Snoop Dogg's mother episode, then you know what I mean. And I hope you saw the excellent summary of it all by none other than the wise and measured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

It has been said: Before you speak, ask yourself if what you're about to say is true, is kind, is helpful or necessary. Are your words going to help? Before you speak, think.

Words and actions have consequences -- for others but also for you. In fact, the consequences your words have for you should matter a lot. Depending on what you believe those consequences may last a lifetime, or generations or forever.

Choose your words with care. As if they matter. Because they always matter.