Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Words, Silence, and Connection

Words that never connect with another person have no meaning. That's not to say that the unread word has no point, nor that the word which no one hears no validation; but these words, no matter their content, eloquence, delivery, these words never change a thing. Would Eliot be great if nobody ever read his poetry? Would Shakespeare? Would Vergil? No. The only thing that makes these men great is their ability to connect. Words exist in a vacuum, they are an arbitrary invention of man to attempt to connect with his fellow man. A word occupies only so much space as it needs on a page, and stays there and does not change. Only in context, only with the understanding that there is purpose behind the saying, can a word truly MEAN anything. So why do people dislike "quiet" people? Because as people, men and women, we are constantly trying to connect with one another. The words of the "chatterbox" fall constantly, a frantic attempt to try to connect with another individual. This person is unsure of what connection really is, and they are unsure of how to attain it. This tends to be the societal norm today; a lack of awareness leads to a lack of conciousness which leads to a lack of connection. When connection is gone, they panic; they must find some words, say some THING that will restore the connection. But the knowledge is gone, and they don't know what to say. So they say everything, wasting precious syllables, letters, vowels, oxygen, in an attempt to restore the connection as fast as possible. The quiet ones are different. They still understand that connection with out purpose is as fruitless as no connection at all. And therefore, they bide their time, waiting for the moment in which they choose to understand, to be understood. This knowledge they posess is not understoood by those who do not posess it. We fear what we do not understand. We fear the silence, but the silence is the only thing that can save us now.

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