Your Words Can Build or Destroy

The old count sat in his study. Before him lay another letter from his wife. One of many that arrived in those final years. While we cannot say if tears fell on this particular day, we know from his diaries that Sofya's words wounded him. She called his spiritual transformation a betrayal. She said the man who preached universal love was destroying his own family.

Her accusations struck with more force than any Crimean bayonet charge. Words could kill. He knew that now.

This was the same Leo Tolstoy who captured all of Russian society in War and Peace and Anna Karenina. But after his literary triumphs, he discovered that his brilliant words had done nothing to ease the suffering he saw everywhere.

In his fifties, Tolstoy underwent a transformation. By 1891, he renounced copyright on his newer works. He attempted to give away his wealth, though family pressure forced a compromise. He dressed like a peasant and made his own boots. His family, especially Sofya, was horrified by these changes.