youtube/watch?v=sp3JOzcpBds It takes so much energy to hate, and just a smile to love. I sometimes wonder if, like a character in a Vonnegut novel, I am somehow so different from any norm as to be thought of as a social derelict; a heretofore unknown alien with a big heart and no predication. Each morning when I sip the first cup of Joe, I turn on the laptop and, like a waiting newspaper, there is an email from “Partners in Rhyme” a somewhat obscure website that sends subscribers two words with definitions each morning. I like words. The average person knows 10,000 words. In 1950, the average 14-year-old knew 25,000 words. Says something about television. Is it important to have a vast vocabulary—probably not. We communicate just wonderfully with as little as a thousand words. And lots of numbers. Numbers are important in our society—far more functional than words that are often open to interpretation. Number are finite; there can be no misunderstanding of one or 76 or 2,177. That’s why computers are so effective and never wrong. I’m no computer. Today, one of the words sent to my cup of coffee was “animadversion.” It means having an unfavorable comment, criticizing. Even bugs don’t have a word problem. Male crickets communicate by sound. The females don’t click. The males click every night, frantically trying to attract a silent partner. As soon as he’s finished with one female—he starts clicking for more! I, long ago, stopped clicking. But I like to reminisce about my clicking days. Sometimes when I’m typing away, trying to find that one word in 10,000 that makes sense in this particular place, I’ll stop typing and suddenly wonder if my clicking memories are inadvertently causing pain to another human being. If there is any question about it, I’ll stop what I’m doing and press delete. My computer trashcan is full. Because, it takes too much energy to hurt. And hurt always causes pain. I don’t want to write memories about hurt and I’d never knowingly cause anyone pain. Facebook has a great way to communicate: thumb up or thumb down. Don’t need any cumbersome words to communicate. Easy way to keep score. And, for the most part I get far more ups than downs. But sometimes, I get only a deafening silence from some female crickets. And then second-guessing and worry about misspoken words or inadequate words creeps into my tiny brain. Doubt, also takes a woeful amount of energy. And I have so little left at my disposal. This is a longwinded apology that has been fumbled so badly because the author can’t find the right words and doesn’t have the right numbers to subtract from or to add to. Silence is golden, but it is also an effective way to communicate. Or not. Peace. For no particular reason other than I like it: “Sweet Soul Music” youtube/watch?v=sp3JOzcpBds
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 11:07:58 +0000
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