"Hey Howzit?" A colleague greets him. He smiles in response, knowing that those were just words. A standard greeting. No one really wants to know how the next person is doing. He takes a deep drag from his cigarette. "Words" he thinks to himself, hoping that the same colleague doesn’t talk about last night’s soccer match. He had better things to do.
"Hey John, how are you doing?" Mary asks with a bright smile and compassionate eyes. He avoids eye contact as he replies, “I’m good Mary.” He makes an escape to his office before she can plague him with any words of wisdom or encouragement like “Don’t worry, it gets better with time.” “I’ve been where you are now and it’s difficult I know, but have faith.” Or the ultimate “I know how you feel”.
“Words” he thinks again as he slumps into his chair behind his desk. How dare people say “Howzit” in a greeting! It’s not like they really want to know how he is doing. How do they know that everything will get better? For them maybe but not for him. No one knows how he feels right now. No one knows how empty and useless he feels. Lost. Alone.
Words are useless. Without actions to back it up, it’s nothing more than the letters of the alphabet. Words does no have the power to heal or give life.
That evening after work John greets all his colleagues like every other day. Not bothering to utter any useless “Words” for them to remember him by. He tidies up his house and has a quick shower before entering his garage where the fruits of last night’s labour is in evidence. Taking a deep breath he steps onto the ladder and carefully ties the rope around his neck. With another deep breath he kicks the ladder from under his feet. Ready to join his wife on the other side.
This was part of a tandem blog series where 3 bloggers and 1 title collide. To check out my bloggers in crime’s interpretation of this week’s title, please click on their links below.
As always, thank you for reading. ☺
Surviving Jonkersville 
Yoh! When the loudest words uttered is silence. Fantastic post Celestial!
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Thanks Shells. Silence is a raging storm.
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There is no greater power of words when they are uttered in desolated silence. Thanks for writing this one, makes one think about the “Hello, how are you” when quite frankly a plain “Good Morning” would suffice without the question.
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