Words have an intrinsic power. When they are true, sensible, and sincere, they heal ‘the hearts that mourn.’ They help to settle disputes between husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters…Words are sacred.
 
Aminata Traore
 
Aminata Traore was Mali’s Minister of Culture when she wrote these words, and she was right—words are sacred, and they are powerful. The Book of Proverbs teaches that “reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing,” and that “pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” You can find many wonderful inspirational audio books at Talking-Book-Store.com that offer endless hours of enjoyment as you discover and meditate on the power of the spoken word.
 
Wilma Rudolph was born with polio in 1940, and she was stricken with pneumonia and scarlet fever when she was a child. These illnesses weakened her leg so much that she wore a leg brace from the age of 5 until the age of 11. Wilma’s family made sure that she received the best medical attention available, and they themselves gave Wilma physical therapy each day. Wilma received a lot of help and love—she was the twentieth of 22 children. Most important of all, Wilma’s family never let her believe that she would have to walk with a brace for the rest of her life.
 
Wilma’s parents were Christians. They prayed every day that God would heal their daughter. Wilma never stopped believing for a miracle. One Sunday, she took off her brace and walked down the aisle of her church in Bethlehem, Tennessee. Miracles do happen in places called Bethlehem, and they will happen anywhere in the world when you believe in the power of the spoken word.  
Wilma kept walking.

She started playing basketball in junior high school, and soon she was running on the track team. At the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, Wilma Rudolf won gold medals in the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, and the 400-meter relay. She was the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympics.

The people of Bethlehem, Tennessee, honored her with the town’s first racially integrated parade. Recognizing the power of the spoken word in the lives of the young, Wilma later became a teacher. Her own four children were her greatest joy in life.  
Eleanor Roosevelt said: "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face.

You must do the thing which you think you cannot do." That is what Wilma Rudolf did. Her life stands as a stunning testimony of what human beings can accomplish when they believe they can overcome obstacles. Wilma Rudolf died in 1994 of a brain tumor. Her life is the proof of what people can do when they believe in the power of the spoken word.