Words
As human beings, we were blessed with the gift of speech, with a higher consciousness that no other animal on the Earth possesses, and yet, we never fail to forget this, forget what makes us different, sets us apart from all the rest...
In short, we abuse Language.
We toss words around as if they have no true meaning, whether those words be "I love you" or a simple "yes." Spelling is seen as a bother, something to be ignored; we fail to use proper grammar, the very glue that strings our words together in a cohesive form so that others may understand the musings of our hearts, our minds, our souls. The beauty of a well-formed sentence or paragraph seems lost on many people today, no matter how old or young they may be. If we misspell words, or write a poorly-constructed sentence that winds up in a submitted piece of work, we either shrug because we just didn't have the time or couldn't be fucked to give it a once-over, or blame our computer's lack of a spell check or grammar check for the mistakes.
We disregard Language as if it were the proverbial "red-headed stepchild."
Our treatment of Language reflects the manner in which we live our lives: at a break-neck pace, constantly rushed and hurried. We simply move from one hour to the next, from one place to another, never stopping for a moment to take in our surroundings and appreciate the world we live in, the lives we've been blessed with...and this is reflected in our ambivalent attitude towards Language. I have graded papers in which students will use countless abbreviations of words such as "b/c," or "w/" or (and yes, I did see this in a paper) "IMO." It has somehow become common practice to write "2" instead of "two," or "to," or "too" (all of which, by the way, have different meanings).
I have sat in rehearsals where people have quite literally said "O-M-G! L-O-L! J/K," and wondered when we crossed the line into not being able to form complete words with our vocal chords. There are people that accept all of this, that never think twice about what they are doing when they either allow, or are the perpetrator of, this "laziness of language."
My friends, humanity is collectively participating in the rape of our greatest commodity as a species: Language.
This is not to say that I am innocent, that I am some kind of snob or elitist who never falls victim to committing the above crimes at one time or another--we all do it, from time to time, and the person that claims differently is lying. However, there are the people that simply fail to at least try to do right by Language, and still others that consider it a form of rebellion to break every literary rule that they can.
Words, they have meaning; they have color and texture and weight. Use a word they way it was intended, or, perhaps, at times the way it was not intended, and you can catapult the reader/listener into another plane of existence. A simple word can bring a person back to another place and time, or strike a chord within their soul that might have remained untouched had you not carefully chosen that particular word. Words are not simply letters strung together that represent a noun, verb, or adjective.
For example: being a classically-trained musician, I adore when people use proper music vocabulary, and the word "melisma" just happens to be one of my favorites. For me, it always conjurs up images of reams of staff paper covered with complex, never-ending phrases that to the uneducated, seem to have no rhyme or reason, but to the trained eye hold endless possibilities. It makes my fingers itch with the need to create the music on the page, my ears buzz with the need to turn the writing before my eyes into an auditory experience.
Words can be music, and a writer can be a composer. On the show "The West Wing," from a quite a few years back, Martin Sheen's character put it best:
"Words, when spoken out loud for the sake of performance, are music.
They have rhythm and pitch and timbre and volume. These are the properties
of music, and music has the ability to find us and move us and lift us up in ways
that literal meaning can't."
Be a composer, and you will turn your words into music.
Choose every word carefully, for all the reasons I've stated above, and construct each sentence with purpose and determination. Those sentences will then intertwine to form paragraphs; the paragraphs convey a message, and create an overall work of art. Like a sculptor, shave, sand and smooth down the rough edges until the lines are seamless, and never be afraid to strive for the "imperfect perfection."
Words can speak volumes...if only you let them.
In short, we abuse Language.
We toss words around as if they have no true meaning, whether those words be "I love you" or a simple "yes." Spelling is seen as a bother, something to be ignored; we fail to use proper grammar, the very glue that strings our words together in a cohesive form so that others may understand the musings of our hearts, our minds, our souls. The beauty of a well-formed sentence or paragraph seems lost on many people today, no matter how old or young they may be. If we misspell words, or write a poorly-constructed sentence that winds up in a submitted piece of work, we either shrug because we just didn't have the time or couldn't be fucked to give it a once-over, or blame our computer's lack of a spell check or grammar check for the mistakes.
We disregard Language as if it were the proverbial "red-headed stepchild."
Our treatment of Language reflects the manner in which we live our lives: at a break-neck pace, constantly rushed and hurried. We simply move from one hour to the next, from one place to another, never stopping for a moment to take in our surroundings and appreciate the world we live in, the lives we've been blessed with...and this is reflected in our ambivalent attitude towards Language. I have graded papers in which students will use countless abbreviations of words such as "b/c," or "w/" or (and yes, I did see this in a paper) "IMO." It has somehow become common practice to write "2" instead of "two," or "to," or "too" (all of which, by the way, have different meanings).
I have sat in rehearsals where people have quite literally said "O-M-G! L-O-L! J/K," and wondered when we crossed the line into not being able to form complete words with our vocal chords. There are people that accept all of this, that never think twice about what they are doing when they either allow, or are the perpetrator of, this "laziness of language."
My friends, humanity is collectively participating in the rape of our greatest commodity as a species: Language.
This is not to say that I am innocent, that I am some kind of snob or elitist who never falls victim to committing the above crimes at one time or another--we all do it, from time to time, and the person that claims differently is lying. However, there are the people that simply fail to at least try to do right by Language, and still others that consider it a form of rebellion to break every literary rule that they can.
Words, they have meaning; they have color and texture and weight. Use a word they way it was intended, or, perhaps, at times the way it was not intended, and you can catapult the reader/listener into another plane of existence. A simple word can bring a person back to another place and time, or strike a chord within their soul that might have remained untouched had you not carefully chosen that particular word. Words are not simply letters strung together that represent a noun, verb, or adjective.
For example: being a classically-trained musician, I adore when people use proper music vocabulary, and the word "melisma" just happens to be one of my favorites. For me, it always conjurs up images of reams of staff paper covered with complex, never-ending phrases that to the uneducated, seem to have no rhyme or reason, but to the trained eye hold endless possibilities. It makes my fingers itch with the need to create the music on the page, my ears buzz with the need to turn the writing before my eyes into an auditory experience.
Words can be music, and a writer can be a composer. On the show "The West Wing," from a quite a few years back, Martin Sheen's character put it best:
"Words, when spoken out loud for the sake of performance, are music.
They have rhythm and pitch and timbre and volume. These are the properties
of music, and music has the ability to find us and move us and lift us up in ways
that literal meaning can't."
Be a composer, and you will turn your words into music.
Choose every word carefully, for all the reasons I've stated above, and construct each sentence with purpose and determination. Those sentences will then intertwine to form paragraphs; the paragraphs convey a message, and create an overall work of art. Like a sculptor, shave, sand and smooth down the rough edges until the lines are seamless, and never be afraid to strive for the "imperfect perfection."
Words can speak volumes...if only you let them.