I write posts on here week after week, and I write books for the consumption of the world and in doing so, I have a great time ruminating on anything that crosses my mind and spinning webs of words to entertain and intrigue.
Writing stories is a wonderful stress buster but also a superb form of mental gymnastics to keep my brain ticking along but deep in the very core of what all these things represent, is communication from one person to another.
Literature, music, art, and many more pursuits all represent attempts by someone to communicate a feeling, a thought, an idea, to someone else. They all provide a key to the mind of the creator, to open the doors of understanding and are the basis of how societies in general have come together beyond only the spoken word.
A great example of this comes from the Star Wars novel Heir to the Empire where Grand Admiral Thrawn, the de facto leader of the Empire following the events of Return of the Jedi, uses an understanding of the art work from each different species he encounters to dismantle their psyche and see how best to defeat them. The character recognises that the artworks, paintings, sculptures and anything else besides, speak louder about how the artists think than mere words so he can know them.
We all know the reality of the situation of transcending words to communicate when we go abroad to a land where we don’t speak the native language. We’re able to get our point across in broad strokes in other ways even if for the most part, many English speakers just resort to speaking louder or more slowly.
We all understand the need to communicate with others and it’s something that we pick up early in life. Arguably, the best communicators are babies. They don’t deal with nuanced shading in their emotions, instead playing with blocks of primary hues instead, but they’re able to get their point across. Hungry, tired, wet, and onwards, are shown to their care givers so they can be dealt with even before they’re able to lift their heads from the bed.
I blog, I write, every week and I’ve always got to keep in mind that what I say delivers the true meaning of what I intended. An example of the risks that are out there is the following sentence.
I didn’t say he stole the money.
Stress any word in this sentence and you change the meaning. I didn’t say he stole the money, for example, suggests the point was delivered another way than spoken. Things like this could be the difference between writing one thing yet somebody else reading something else.
Effective communication is what so much of our lives is built upon. Making sure that others comprehend what we’re trying to say allows us all to build bridges and work together but that doesn’t have to be limited to just words. A great many things are shared through actions as well you know?
Stay Safe all.
Owen Elgie 