Hereto, for the last twenty years or so, I have been proselytizing the power of words. I will now speak to their futility, if only for a moment.
The multiplicity of means by which we express ourselves and capture the human experience exponentially expands as we technologically advance. Along with digital formats, there are a variety of instruments, medium and methods with which we record all readily apparent, as well as not-so-apparent, phenomenon of our senses.
However, despite the variety of tools now available which are employed to capture what we perceive, one remains the most commonly, widely and most conveniently abused—language. And still it remains wholly imperfect despite its relentless and universal use, if only because we are too lazy or too afraid to challenge its limits, its contents and its usage.
The use of language itself practically limits the potential, the assessment of worth, the memory and associated nostalgic value, as well as the outcome and income (i.e. impact) of experience. Words set expectations so that the experimenter, recipient or participant anticipates certain phenomena, thereby limiting the scope of her perception of all that actually simultaneously occurs within the same frame of time-space. I suppose that is why most of us are notoriously bad inadvertent witnesses.
Language can also be deceiving, misleading, or deterring unintentionally, it is mistaken, misheard, or misinterpreted, with the result being a flippant chain-reaction which sometimes alters the future forever, that is if the outstanding and foreboding circumstances which people dance around are not redirected to achieve a situation which was otherwise intended, planned or anticipated.
How many cherished friendships have unnecessarily ended due to the misconception, misperception, or misconstruction of a few words? How many perfect couples have never convened because the right words never materialized? How many mothers, wives, women and lovers have gone under-appreciated because their benefactors were less than capable of communicating?
Language is incredibly powerful, and I cannot help but come full-circle and end this soliloquy with nothing but praise for the holy word. Words have been the makers of kings, criminals and lovers all the same, and they have been able to break or maim them with equal force.
So, although I began this meandering as an attempt to speak of the limits of our tongues, perhaps it is better to conclude that, in this my stream of distilled reality it is really we who are limited, and that with a little extra effort, a little courage, and of course, a lot of imagination, we can very well say whatever we want.
daily archives
l.m