Choose your words wisely

_{Photo by Akira Hojo}

People will always say that there's power in the tongue and I remember I use to have a different understanding of that quote as a kid, but then I grew up and I soon realized how powerful the tongue truly is. You see, you can make almost anyone do almost anything, it all just depends on how carefully you choose your words, your manner of approach. Luckily for me, I got the scope of things earlier in my life and I remember using my elder brother as a case study.

Back in the day, my elder brother was one of the youngest kid in our street making money and this was because my dad had the foresight to take him to a place where he could learn how to repair generators, and living in a country where the electricity supply is nothing to write home about, generator repair was a very lucrative business.

But you see, my brother had a problem back then, he hardly gave his money to anyone except my parents, and I'm sure the only reason he gave them money back then was because he had no choice. After all he was still a young guy (about the age of eighteen) living under their roof.

So knowing the kind of brother I had and how stingy he was with his cash, instead of going to him directly to ask for money whenever I needed money for something, I always tried to ease my way in. I remember this one time I needed us to turn on our generator because my phone was dead and I had gone to meet my dad to give me money for petrol but he had told me he didn't have any money (he had said that because he didn't have any need for the generator).

Then I had thought of going to ask my mom for money but she has always been on the same lane with my dad so asking her for money felt like a waste of time so I didn't bother. If her husband said it wasn't necessary, then it was a no for her too. So with both parents no longer an option, the only person left who had cash was my brother, and I had decided to wait for him to come back from work that day.

Later that evening after he arrived, I remember watching him take of his shirt, while slowly pacing myself. I didn't want to rush anything because I knew that all it took for this whole operation to be over was one wrong choice of word. And so slowly and with the saddest voice I could ever come up with, I began to tell him the story of how both our parents who have loved to turn on the generator but they were too broke to afford the money for petrol.

It was a well told story, a story so good that not even the person with the strongest of hearts would ignore. So I ended up getting money from him and buying petrol.

Although the story was me exaggerating the real truth, I had taken that route because I knew the kind of person he was and I knew that I had to prey on his emotions, that was the only way he was going to release that money...manner of approach.

This is something that if mastered well, will make you feel like a magician because you will end up getting whatever you want. And the best part is that you don't have to lie, you just have to be willing to be kind with your words and ask politely, that is the only thing most people need for them to be kind to you back and probably give you that which you seek.