Articulation

One never really appreciates articulation until one has lost it [this is probably true of most things, but this is what I've been thinking about, oh well]. The pain of being unable to express what you mean! When the thoughts have formed but words just don't. The supreme frustration when you are met with total non-comprehension. The self-doubt, the growing fear that you cannot communicate with people anymore.

It may be because sloppiness pervades our lives these days. Short-cuts are the norm, whether it's frozen green beans and readymade pasta sauce or pre-made Excel templates or FACS settings (a wave of apology to the unititated). More short-cuts, more laziness, more laziness more reluctance to exert the effort to really communicate. It is tiring to communicate. It is difficult to adopt means of expression that make sense to your target audience, whether you are speaking to people whose native language is not the same or to those whose minds work differently. The temptation is strong to only half-communicate, which can take the form of either giving up halfway through and letting the other person's incomplete comprehension of your thought slide, or can take the form of communicating something simpler than one's original thought, which is ultimately as unrewarding and many degrees more patronizing of one's listener.

One becomes more and more reluctant to make the effort and we all end up wrapped up in our little cocoons of individuality. I guess that's the way of the world today, but it makes me feel sad and lonely, and I dearly wish that it were different.

On a side note, the state of Indiana is really quite lovely! It might just be the result of a damp spring, but glorious cushiony greenery and flowers that did not come pre-planted from the Home Depot, well, suits me just fine. [I don't think I'm ready to maove there yet though]