Words, words and more words. Why are we humans driven to communicate? It’s more than just a survival tactic. Just think of the millions of words that people have written in books over the centuries. Nothing to do with survival, really; just a need to be heard, to share words.
Most of us find ourselves talking every day, probably even more so since COVID 19 imposed its isolation on us. We began to realize what a difference conversations could make in our sense of connectedness with others. We found ourselves more apt to stop and call a brother or sister, a distant friend, just to hear their voice and share a bit of life. It’s just what we do.
Our words are somewhat like that box of 64 Crayola crayons we remember from childhood. We get to choose our colors from an infinite variety. Remember fire engine red, hot pink, cornflower blue? We don’t have to get stuck on “Awesome” and “Amazing”. We can start through the alphabet and go to astounding, astonishing, brilliant, bewildering, bombastic…on it goes. In addition, we can choose shades of color with our tone, tucking a smile into a phrase, going for the double take with an extra lilt in our voice. Words seasoned with grace can lift the heart. We can notice a name tag, throwing out a comment, “Oh, that was my mother’s name.” Everyone loves that. We can watch the eyes of strangers light up at an insightful comment that says, “I know you are alive, and I’m glad”.
