Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will hurt me until the day I die. I dedicate this work to the clients of my forty-six years of therapy and pastoral work who have shared their pain and sorrow inflicted by words. No wound is more difficult to overcome than the wound caused by words. Love is destroyed by words. Families are separated by words. Young lives are placed on roads that lead to dead-ends and destructions by words. Careers are ended, reputations are lost and wars are begun all because of words. To the many who have suffered so greatly I pray this book will help others understand your pain. Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances. (Proverbs 23:11 New American Standard Bible)