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LANGUAGE

Windy conveyance of ideas.

A dynamic exhibit of a rich, varied past.

Expressions that imperfectly represent us.

A mutually understood means of communicating.

Successful attempts at launching ‘bits’ out of the cranium.

Probably the most essential cohesive skill shared in a community.

An ongoing barrage of banter between people trying to be understood.

Apparent limitless resource for sharing but frustratingly inadequate at times.

Human evolution’s supreme accomplishment; its advent heralding astounding progress.

Meaningless sounds and symbols without ongoing, practical group efforts to organize, standardize and teach the ever, evolving meanings of those sounds and symbols.
 

• Perhaps the tongue’s lifelong vitality is sustained by its constant use.
   
• Perhaps without words in our brain we would be incoherent to ourselves.
   
• Perhaps words are meaningless, only your interpretations are real ... for your.
   
• Perhaps verbiage can never convey emotions and feelings… only allude to it.
   
• Perhaps the spoken word is doomed; perhaps its sluggish, boorish presentation will become outmoded, replaced by mind-generated images.
   
• Perhaps right now in repose you are taking in and digesting more effectively than you could ever hope to do by listening; perhaps verbal assaults are easier to ignore.
   
• Perhaps we think in symbols but always FEEL without language; perhaps your inner self is impregnable to words but nevertheless develops a hardened, calloused shell to ward off the incessant barrages.
   
• Perhaps the disparity of wealth is mirrored in the disparity of communicating skills; perhaps the greater facility you have with organizing and expressing thought, the more power you have in dealing with others.
   
• Perhaps modern attempts at clarification, "what are you really saying?", improve understanding that can lead to harmony; perhaps honest expression and sincere listening are essential for a peaceful and fruitful co-existence.
   
• Perhaps we mean what we say only sometimes; perhaps we cannot help but play and deceive, seek humorous relief and employ self-serving manipulation; perhaps this is us being driven by self-preservation and expediency; perhaps receptiveness will always be tempered with skepticism.
  
  say what you mean honestly with verve

ESSAY ON LANGUAGE by EDWIN O’SHEA

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