Glimmers
The right words, the right voice...
“With the right words you can change the world.” ― E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web
Things have been a bit rough in my neck of the woods. I’m sure you can relate so I won’t bore you with the details. However, after a restless night of tossing and turning I woke up with a glimmer in my head.
Glimmers are nothing as clearly defined as actual thoughts, nor as solid as shapes that can be captured with pen and paper. No, my glimmer had to do with an E.B. White quote I’d stumbled upon while sorting through my collection of children’s books. My goal was to “tidy up” my office so I’d have more room for important things like cat cushions and houseplants. But I should have known better.
In all the years I’ve been buying, reading, and collecting kids’ books I’ve never - not once - managed to tidy, dust or rearrange my collection without stopping for a chat with one or more of the authors and characters in those books. I wish I could say I felt ashamed of my failures. But I don’t. I can’t think of a more productive way to spend a few hours than visiting with childhood friends. Yesterday it was E.B White, Wilbur the pig, and Charlotte the wordsmith spider from White’s classic story, Charlotte’s Web.
I may be 69 years old - and somewhat removed from the creative magic that fueled my childhood - but I am not so entangled in the petty dramas of adulthood that I don’t recognize a message when it lands in my lap. I promptly abandoned my “tidy up,” parked myself on the couch, and reread Charlotte’s Web from cover to cover.
I came away from my reading with this quote: With the right words you can change the world. White’s words played over and over in my head as I got ready for bed, followed me into sleep, and pursued me into dreams. There, spiders spun webs full of pithy and erudite prose then strung them in the cornices of the White House.
If this delightful little dream had been the end of it, I might not be writing this post. However, when I logged into my computer this morning I saw I had a few messages that required attention. These included a link to a video that showed a young woman crying. It was captioned, “It’s been so long since we had a leader who spoke like this.”
Of course I had to listen. The video was of Barack Obama telling the story of the campaign speech he gave in Greenwood, South Carolina. After a 90-minute drive in the pouring rain, he arrived to discover that only 20 people had come to listen to him. What happened next is priceless. Click the image below to hear the whole story.
But back to glimmers. If you know me at all then you know I’m always on the lookout for glimmers - lessons, messages, and reminders from the light that fuels the universe. The Cherokee version of a glimmer is a star. They believe every living thing - plants, animals, mountains, streams, and soil - has a star watching over and guiding it. The trick is to learn to pay attention to your star. Yesterday my glimmer-star left me with a quote I’m passing on to you:
“It goes to show you how one voice can change a room. And if one voice can change a room, it can change a city. And if it can change a city, it can change a state. If it can change a state it can change a nation. If it can change a nation, it can change the world. One voice can change the world.” - Barack Obama
Finally, I ask you to imagine the webs of compelling words we might spin and place in unexpected and startling locations - locker rooms and public restrooms, the windows of coffee shops, and even the hallowed halls of government. Can you imagine voices reading those words aloud and repeating them? How might we use our words and voices to startle people awake? How might your words, your voice, change the world?
Hugs!
Jena
Resources
Hug Mugs - including the image of Wilbur in the top photo: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ButtonsandBowsByJena
Copyright 2025 by Jena Ball. All Rights Reserved.
Gleam on, Jena!!
Just beautiful! Thank you