People do change. Sometimes radically. But it takes something major to do it. A death, a divorce, a realisation that oneself, or one's world, isn't as it appeared to be...

A musical friend just filed for divorce. She'd been fairly quiet except on stage, very much in a shell... well, she posts that she's filed, and the next thing I know, she's got a big ol' green man tattoo (her first), she's plotting multiple international trips, yelling at contractors and estate agents, generally being a Force of Nature...

Or me. No s---, there I was, shy of 21, a goody-two-shoes sunday-go-to-meetin-perfect-attendance type, didn't cuss, didn't f***, didn't drink much.... and then my best friend came out of the closet.

Eighteen months later? Happy little heathern, doin' the deed in the woods, swearing like a sailor, Sunday mornings are for sleeping in after Saturday night's revels...

Still don't drink much. And, which may be what you're getting at, still think that the basic qualification for being a good person is giving a damn about one's fellow sentient. *That* hasn't changed.

I totally agree that words have power, too, and that it's up to us to claim it.