Well, it’s back to work today.
I enjoyed a little over two weeks off over the holidays. I really could get used to that!
Most of the time spent was very good. I needed the rest. Plus, it was really nice navigating the season a more leisurely than in some years.
I alluded to changes coming in the New Year in a post yesterday. 2020 is shaping up to be unique in many ways. I’ll get to each as I am able.
Right now, though, I’m considering Words.
Most people consider words and language as a means to an end.
We communicate our wants, needs, and desires in a manner that others can understand. We see a color and say, “That’s red!”
Images may come to mind like a fire engine or a nice, ripe apple. From there we may associate the smell of smoke or the fragrance of apple pie. We can feel the firmness of the apple’s flesh in our imagination. That may trigger a memory of a baseball. Or, perhaps the opposite. The softness of a peach. And, that in turn, may send our neocortex into overdrive with myriad sensations cascading through our mind.
All because of “Red.”
Words are far more powerful than many of us consider. In ancient Greece and Rome special schools were established for the sole purpose of teaching students how to shape and form words. The schools of rhetoric flourished and great orators gained renown for their ability to shape, not only words, but the thoughts and opinions of those who listened to them practice their art.
And, art it was!
People could paint pictures and sculpt monuments using only words. Civilizations flourished and fell because of words placed in their proper, (or, improper), places. A slip of the tongue could cost thousands of lives. On the other hand, a well craft oration could establish Queens and Kings.
Today words have largely become common currency in the culture. Yes, they still contain a modicum of power. Fortunes can be won and lost because of a timely slip of the tongue. But, tomorrow someone else will say something that will undo that in a heartbeat.
We have lowered the importance of language to the point that it is merely one of many different media to consume. From television and radio, to books and magazines, we eat words to satisfy an appetite. When the effect wears off, we hunger for more. It seems that an unending supply of tasty words are available for us to gratify our hunger. We become gluttons for more words to stroke our egos and indulge our baser appetites.
One simply needs to see the content of Facebook or twitter to experience this.
Words are Power.
Even in the diminished form in which we hear and see them today, they are Power.
Are we capable of wielding it?
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