Can words change the world? 💬

I believe that words wield immense power! With a kind word, you can alter a person's state of mind, and with the right metaphor, you can prompt people to shift their worldview. A "no" instead of a "yes" can change the outcome of a hostage negotiation in Gaza. Words have a crucial impact on our lives and our world.

Occasionally, you come across words from someone that simply touch you in a way you haven't experienced before. 😌

It happened to me yesterday. I stumbled upon an article about a young person who passed away in 2012. Marina Keegan was a student at Yale with a promising career in journalism ahead of her. In connection with her graduation, she wrote the following text, which was published in Yale Daily News. Five days after her graduation, she tragically died at the age of 22 in a car accident. 💔

Why am I sharing this? Because her words articulate a feeling that I hope we can recreate in some form in our workplaces. If we can achieve that, I believe attracting talented employees will never be difficult. 🙏 Here's an excerpt from her text. If you want to read the entire piece, you can find it here: KEEGAN: The Opposite of Loneliness - Yale Daily News 📖

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐟 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐧 2012.

We don’t have a word for the opposite of loneliness, but if we did, I could say that’s what I want in life. What I’m grateful and thankful to have found at Yale, and what I’m scared of losing when we wake up tomorrow and leave this place.

It’s not quite love and it’s not quite community; it’s just this feeling that there are people, an abundance of people, who are in this together. Who are on your team. When the check is paid and you stay at the table. When it’s four a.m. and no one goes to bed. That night with the guitar. That night we can’t remember. That time we did, we went, we saw, we laughed, we felt. The hats.

Yale is full of tiny circles we pull around ourselves. A cappella groups, sports teams, houses, societies, clubs. These tiny groups that make us feel loved and safe and part of something even on our loneliest nights when we stumble home to our computers — partner-less, tired, awake. We won’t have those next year. We won’t live on the same block as all our friends. We won’t have a bunch of group-texts.

This scares me. More than finding the right job or city or spouse – I’m scared of losing this web we’re in. This elusive, indefinable, opposite of loneliness. This feeling I feel right now.

Wow... those are powerful words from a mere 22-year-old girl.