Language is fascinating. One small, seemingly harmless sentence can change a person’s life, or even change the course of history. (Should calling Hillary Clinton “a monster” off the record have gotten that Obama adviser fired? Well, I don’t think so. But then again, I’ve called Hillary much worse.) The written word is even trickier. It eliminates inflection, emphasis, timing, tone…all things pretty necessary in conveying exactly what you want to communicate. I’ve recently come across several correspondences that illuminate this very idea.
There’s so much that’s difficult to communicate through writing. Wit is a tricky one. It can sound like condescension. Emotion is another. It can end up sounding either pathetic or absolutely incomprehensible. But writing also gives you the opportunity to weed out the superfluous thoughts and channel exactly the point you want to say….and what’s the point I want to say?…I dunno, I just think we could all benefit from a good dose of reality. You know, face-to-face interaction. Smiles and laughs and rainbows and shit.
Just a thought.
“) so i gave her a big tip. though i couldn’t really look her in the eye. and regardless of how good the massage was, i’m not sure that i’ll be able to bring myself to go back…aaaaawkward.