Going through some old writing...
The following is an excerpt from an 11-page document I wrote several years back. March 7, 2002 at 6:12 PM, to be exact. Computers are handy for things like that.
"Life boils down to a few choice phrases. I am not sure if these are all of them, but these are a few I have isolated. Just imagine for a moment...
1) The knee-jerk reaction of “Hi there! How’ve you been?”. Often found at my work, greeting customers. Also found on the phone when talking to someone you might only talk to once a year. And hurled incessantly back and forth when one sees their family members. Oftentimes, it gets cloaked or reworded into something like “’Sup?” or “Hey, baby! I missed you.” and just as often it is followed up by a slew of meaningless banter about someone’s kids or their new Audi or the weather or their hemorrhoid. It almost always rolls back to the medical world.
2) The customary “Goodbye!” has a thousand shape shifter phrases you can substitute it with. None of them meaning more than the thud of closing a large hardcover book in the sanctity of your own home. It means things are finished. How many times have you gotten hung up on by someone who meant no offense? They simply don’t understand the importance of a “Goodbye”.
3) The definitive moments in our lives when we mutter certain phrases ... usually out loud. Though we won’t admit it. Things like “That’s the last time I do that. I mean it this time.” and “I will ask for what I deserve. Next time I see that person.”. Inspirational mottos we toss around that might have been plucked from our beaten-down subconscious. A mind frame that was based on inspirational posters at the dentist’s office and in our classrooms. Empowering.
4) And the times in our existence when we actually ask for something. Almost always from another person. But sometimes from that thing that most of us believe in, yet never see ... God. Some of us swear he talks to us. I bet a large portion of those folks merely say that so their lonely voices in the night don’t seem so lonely. We ask for money. Sex. A new home theater. Lower taxes. Healthy kids. You get the point. Things we almost never have control over. Asking for something is a way to verbally hope for something. Denial is a response that can cleanly serve to demolish hope. Denial is bad.
I think if we all tried to prune away those 4 basic elements of speech ... we would be left mostly silent. There is a popular thought that I first read about in a Douglas Adams book that goes a little like this: “If a person is silent for too long, they actually begin to think. That is why humans talk so much.”
Food for thought. I bet if I keep reading, I will find more of it. But there's your installment for now.
-Rich
"Life boils down to a few choice phrases. I am not sure if these are all of them, but these are a few I have isolated. Just imagine for a moment...
1) The knee-jerk reaction of “Hi there! How’ve you been?”. Often found at my work, greeting customers. Also found on the phone when talking to someone you might only talk to once a year. And hurled incessantly back and forth when one sees their family members. Oftentimes, it gets cloaked or reworded into something like “’Sup?” or “Hey, baby! I missed you.” and just as often it is followed up by a slew of meaningless banter about someone’s kids or their new Audi or the weather or their hemorrhoid. It almost always rolls back to the medical world.
2) The customary “Goodbye!” has a thousand shape shifter phrases you can substitute it with. None of them meaning more than the thud of closing a large hardcover book in the sanctity of your own home. It means things are finished. How many times have you gotten hung up on by someone who meant no offense? They simply don’t understand the importance of a “Goodbye”.
3) The definitive moments in our lives when we mutter certain phrases ... usually out loud. Though we won’t admit it. Things like “That’s the last time I do that. I mean it this time.” and “I will ask for what I deserve. Next time I see that person.”. Inspirational mottos we toss around that might have been plucked from our beaten-down subconscious. A mind frame that was based on inspirational posters at the dentist’s office and in our classrooms. Empowering.
4) And the times in our existence when we actually ask for something. Almost always from another person. But sometimes from that thing that most of us believe in, yet never see ... God. Some of us swear he talks to us. I bet a large portion of those folks merely say that so their lonely voices in the night don’t seem so lonely. We ask for money. Sex. A new home theater. Lower taxes. Healthy kids. You get the point. Things we almost never have control over. Asking for something is a way to verbally hope for something. Denial is a response that can cleanly serve to demolish hope. Denial is bad.
I think if we all tried to prune away those 4 basic elements of speech ... we would be left mostly silent. There is a popular thought that I first read about in a Douglas Adams book that goes a little like this: “If a person is silent for too long, they actually begin to think. That is why humans talk so much.”
Food for thought. I bet if I keep reading, I will find more of it. But there's your installment for now.
-Rich
posted by Rich at 5/14/2006 12:50:00 PM
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