There were no words as I sat by her bedside at the hospital that day.
Having heard her full story, I was struck silent:

there was nothing I could say to ease her pain;
there was nothing I could say to heal her liver;
there was nothing I could say to help her family;
there was nothing I could say to bring back her husband;
there was nothing I could say to make her daughter speak to her again;
there was nothing I could say to fix her financial woes;
there was nothing I could say to make any of it better,

so instead,
I said nothing,
and she said nothing,
and in the silence, punctuated only by the steady ping of the IV,
an understanding took shape.
A full 30 minutes marched by as we stared at the monitor,
not saying a word,
and when those 30 minutes had passed, she began to speak,
and I listened in silence.

This first case happened years ago, but I’ve lost track of the number of times this has happened since. Every time I go into work at the hospital or head to the bar, I encounter situations for which there are no words, so I don’t offer any. When there are no words for a situation, straining to invent them is a waste of time. Better to sit in supportive silence and wait.

Silence has the power to take fear or anger or sadness
and turn it into comfort.
It can turn judgment into acceptance,
terror into determination,
chaos into peace,
or denial into reflection.

Silence has power.

So if you find yourself without words, good.
Your silence may be a far more valuable gift than all the words in the world.