Sunday, September 13, 2009

Speechless

So apparently my wanton blog advertisements on facebook have harvested more readers than I ever predicted.

As I sat down to write this, I mulled over a topic or 4 to write about and, after some deliberation, scrapped them all on account of the potential toe-stomping each would likely instigate...I suppose it's in poor taste to discuss my complaints about various social or work circumstances when those involved might possibly be reading them ;)

But this consideration did get me thinking about how ignorant writers, musicians, artists in general are to the repercussions of their work.  While writing is probably the most explicit form of expression, it can still be interpreted (almost) as variably as, say, a painting or sculpture. Just look at court rulings based on written law...or the heated debates over texts from the Bible.

But this is true even on as small a scale as a blog, or even facebook photo captions.  The few strings of words a person chooses to describe their picture or even their current state show such a special, succint aspect of their personality which, I think, can only be appreciated by an outside observer.

For example, my parents have been happily married for 23 years. Experienced all sorts of life's ups and downs together, and, by all accounts, know each others' ways through and through. Yet my mother is as tickled by my dad's off-hand witticisms on facebook as if she'd just met him. Not because she doesn't know him well (obviously), but because a person's writings show a special aspect of them which is otherwise inaccessible...even if you've been married to them for 2 decades.

It's the reason people resort to written words when they've got something very important or difficult to say. It's the reason many people (myself included) never throw letters or greeting cards away. Perhaps it's the reason texting and twitter have enjoyed such wild popularity. What a person chooses to write (even in fragmented, sporadic blurts) speaks volumes both in terms of what they're communicating and how they're unconsciously reflected and interpretted.

It's enough to make even a compulsive writer like myself stop and think about what will meet your eyes and more importantly, your thoughts. And therein...hopefully...put my best word forward.

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