The Importance of Words.

One of the things I would like to impress upon my students is the importance of words. Words are important, right? Communication is nearly impossible without words.

One of the things I always get on my kids about are the misuse of two words: Gay and Retarded. I hate these words when used in the context of "This play is gay." Or "This is retarded, why do I have to read?" Not only is it impossibly annoying when kids ask questions like "Why do I have to read?" But they don't seem to realize what they mean when they say these two words in this context. I try to explain it in terms they might understand.

"When someone does something silly or stupid, how would you guys feel if I said 'Man, that was really Mexican.'" And of course this sets off the whole class, 97% of whom are hispanic. "Well you do the same thing to those people who are homosexual or have mental handicaps." It doesn't change anything. They still say the words and no matter how many times I sit for lunch detention it doesn't seem to stop.

The kids ask me why they can't swear. "They're just words Mr. Snyder." They are right. They are just words. But words have power. Who ever said "Sticks and stones..." was full of it. Words have meaning. Granted, we give them their meaning but isn't that the purpose of words?

Language has been around for many millennium. Created for the soul purpose of organized communication.

Hominid 1: Grunt grunt grunt.
(Hominid 1 points at a tree and makes an eating motion)
Hominid 2: Tree!
Hominid 1: Tree?
Hominid 2: Tree!
Hominid 1: Tree!
(The hominids dance together in celebration)

As humans language can be used in many different ways. We tell stories of the past, our hopes for the future, we can use language to make up either, we can explain, so on and so forth. My anthro professor in college once told me that the English language has a finite number of words, but almost every sentence spoken in the world is a distinct creation unique to the speaker. Think about that! These characters on this webpage placed in this configuration of words and sentence that follow the rules of grammar are a completely unique creation. No one in the history of the world has ever written this exact entry, or spoken these words. That is astounding to me.

---Edit: The stuff above was written on April 13th. The stuff below was written on the day of the posting.

So the whole reason for this entry was...you guessed it...A TED video.



So I watch Lakshmi's talk about words, letter writing, and legacy. First, I thought of my father's journals. Shortly before my father's death, I found a journal that he had written in on a regular basis from February 24, 1987 until December 2, 1987 (my birthday was the topic of that particular entry). It is important to note that I moved to San Marcos in late August of '06 and the last time I heard my dad attempt to speak was September 26. So by the time I had found this journal my dad's major form of communication was written word. The day after my father died we found three other spiral notebooks, all labeled as volumes and with titles.

Volume I - Alias (November 1979 - December 1980)
Volume II - Flora Kydd (December 1980 - February 1982)
Volume III - External Combustion (Febrary 1983 - Febrary 1987)
Volume IV - Dealing With Stress (February 1987 - January 14, 2007)

The titles I'm assuming were band names or album names of his own creation. You can't imagine how enlightening it was to read about my dad's life after it was over. Providence had given me something of my father's legacy. My dad wasn't really a prolific journalist and some of his entries are marred with "I feel bad for whomever finds this and reads this long after I'm gone..." Which mad me laugh because my own journals say the same thing. But even now as I pull them out just for the purposes of writing this, I am keenly aware of the fact that my fathers hands touched these paper books. That the blood coursing through his veins and the muscles in his arm and hands guided a pen and the evidence of those moments are still here.

Legacies are left in words. I had the good fortune to know someone who thought it imperative that I see the movie Big Fish, which I hadn't previously seen. I am immensely thankful that I had not gone to see the movie when it initially came out in 2003. I was able to wholly enjoy the movie so much more after having dealt with my fathers own death. The whole movie is about a legacy left in oral histories. My father's legacy is left in journals and the stories those of us who knew him tell.

No matter who you are, when you die you are at the behest of the words written or spoken about you. Hopefully you don't leave your legacy to those who are left after you die. Start making your legacy now. You don't have to keep a journal or write anything. Just live. Be good to those around you. And hope that those that didn't like you die off before you do, just kidding.

I often wonder what kind of legacy I will leave.

Hmmmmm...