Words spring from our basic motivators – our feelings and yearnings. They can be either a faithful reflection of those feelings and yearnings; or, contrarily, words can more or less camouflage and hide our true intent. This ability to camouflage pits short-term against long-term; for in the short term we may deceive, but in the longer term it becomes increasingly difficult to deceive because our actions speak louder than words and the maintenance and control of camouflage elements eventually exceed human capacity. In marriage, counseling, civil justice, peacemaking, and befriending; sensitivity to tone and meaning are heightened due to language's heightened functioning during these times as a symbolic indicator of underlying attitude--perceived as bimodal – either goodwill (friend) or ill will (foe). Proverbs aptly reminds us of the underlying relevance of the timeline: Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue last only a moment (12:19).
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