Words of love and hate, of hope and consolation, of joy and pain. New words and dying languages. Nearly every emotion has a word. Sometimes words fall short and then we have music. A song’s combination of lyrics and music can be immensely powerful. Words allow us to express ourselves, and to hide ourselves. To be ourselves and to fake ourselves. Words – and language – are the most important accomplishment of mankind. Imagine a life without words. Sign language may keep your body alive but your mind may die in the process.
I love words and I love playing with words. I love the double meanings that words allow you, at times. I am pleased when people understand and appreciate my words as each word was a conscious decision in itself. I am disappointed in people who fail to understand my words. Who read things that were not written and hear things that were not said. I have little sympathy for ignorance and stupidity as it often cannot be cured within a reasonable timeframe.
I write these blogs to express myself, my emotions, my thoughts. My personal topics seem to help others too, for which I am grateful. Life is a journey with different originations, a similar destination, and with many stops in between. Each of us is at a different stop and we learn from each other’s experiences at those stops. At rare moments we find persons at the same stop. Perhaps those moments help define a soulmate.
For some this journey is visibly hard, for others seemingly easy. Communication – formerly, correspondence – allows us to share feelings and thoughts that we incur during our journey with family, friends and acquaintances . Yet, only friends hear our truth – or at least most of it. The others hear our pre-recorded voice mail message. Only sometimes we pick up the phone during these conversations and then we actually start talking.
Words may touch the receiving party and expose the vulnerability of the sending party. The opposite usually works better for most of us: meaningless words that don’t touch the receiver and don’t weaken the sender. The Dilbert cartoons provide us with striking examples of such meaningless corporate jargon. It’s kind of ironic that such empty words can turn into humour and get a (new) meaning.
It’s my aim not to waste my words, either on negativity or on deliberately hurting someone else. No doubt my words will hurt others, even if there was no intention to hurt. The truth always hurts, they say, but the truth is usually just a perspective. Words can only hurt when there is doubt. Doubt about the choices that we made during our journey. Doubt about right or wrong. About now or then.
I have made my choices during my journey and don’t regret any of them. Each choice was well considered. The tougher they were, the longer they took. Regret is one of the most dangerous emotions as it typically involves the notorious “what, if” question. That question is like a drowning emotional black hole. Just assume your choices during your journey in life and live with the consequences. Only light hearted foolish choices may cause serious regret.
Non! Rien de rien. Non! Je ne regrette rien. Edith Piaff’s famous song. And – for my friends – let’s not forget Jacquel Brel’s song Ne me quitte pas.
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