The Power of Words

In the first version of my novel, Among the Grackle, one of the main characters was sitting at her desk bemoaning the conversation taking place outside her office door. "Words. Words. Too many words...talk less, do more!"

After seeing it in print, I realized how (at best) ironical or (at worst) hypocritical the statement was for someone attempting to make a living as a writer, and daily utilizes far more words than my rightful share (if such things can be cosmically measured).

I love words. I love their textures and nuanced meanings. I love their cadence and flow. I love how they can be at once general and specific to every situation, how their presentation can simultaneously discern and construct meaning relative to any context.

I love how (to paraphrase author Kevin Powers) what is thought is never quite what is said and what is said is never quite what is heard.

Our entire understanding of every other human being, our communication with every soul we encounter throughout our lifetime, exists only in this bounding back and forth between those two chasms. 

Yet, within those two chasms stands our appreciation for every great piece of literature, music, and work of art; every romance we have ever shared; every tragedy we have ever experienced. Within those two chasms also lives the misunderstandings of the entire human race, from the smallest spat between lovers to the genocide of millions. Words, both spoken and silent, are the power that drives actions both good and evil. 

Which is why we may try to curtail their usage from time to time: because words, whether understood or misunderstood, are powerful. Turning love sonnets into a U R HOT text is a most recent example of humans developing a common "cultural conversation," wherein we attempt to say just enough, but not too much, for fear that too much is, well, too much. 

But it never works for long.

Even texting, which began as a series of alphabetical abbreviations that aggravated every language aficionado on the planet (pardon my alliteration), re-evolved into a medium for having full-on conversations with the recent generations of smart phones.

Suddenly those sassy little devices were auto-correcting for actual words! Sprightly novellas could now pour forth from my fingertips! Brevity? You're kidding, right?  

Some of us rightly suspected it would happen; that even a technology designed for succinctness would expand it's original manifest. Because the thirst for language and conversation, in all its imperfectness is deeply rooted in the human heart and psyche.

It's how we connect. It's how we move forward.

We talk, we write, and eventually, we listen.