Words.
Since ancient times words have been the markers of class. The divider of rich and poor, intelligence and stupidity, civilization and barbarianism, success and failure. Scholars and lords of all kinds would covet, protect, manipulate, and create them from the tip of a feather. The poor were not privy to such intimacy. Instead they were relegated to the breath. Only those words that could trickle off their tongues were given to them. However, these were frail and meaningless acts. The words they had were of no strength. In a war of vocal power, they were rubber swords in an arena of tanks.
Make no mistake about it, words are the bringers and givers of life. From their use we have created kings and gods. Toppled civilizations and cast aside our foes. Through their articulation, art has bred new life. Stories have been handed across the realms of time and space. Beauty which reaches into the depths of our hearts have come from this manifestations of ink and wood.
Yet, they have a fickle and treacherous soul. In the hands of those who seek only self, words can oppress the masses, enslave the millions, kill the weak and lacking. They require those who possess the strength of conviction to overcome these abominations with honest discourse. And if you reject them, in time they will delegate you to the realm of lesser men beyond the land of reconciliation.
So the next time you complain about something being far too wordy for you to read, remember this power. Know that by casting aside these words you are not merely giving up an activity. You are giving up your place in the context of society. Rebelling against the very thing that has born you to where you now stand. A forfeiture of power to those who would gladly take it for their own; while those who would give all for the chance to touch these words as you can look on with somber eyes.
The world is built on elements and atoms. Basic structures which intertwine to form more complex structures, reaching ever outwards into the breadth of our planet. Society is built on words. They are our atoms. Our elements. From them all manner of speech and humanity exists. They intertwine us with one another, and for that alone they should be more cherished than any amount of time or bill.
4 better thoughts:
Ha ha. One the one hand you are completely right about words being so important - of course they are. On the other hand, a bad writer is a bad writer. I'm the worst for it, rambling on on my posts for way too long... and sometimes i need someone to say "its not about quantity, its about quality". Sometimes, people abuse words too.
@Simon Primary flaw there: You don't know something is badly written until you've begun to read it. Far too many write off the contents based solely on a visual glance at the number of words present. They don't take the time to read them at all.
That was way too wordy.
But seriously - um, what? Ok, words are powerful and should not be trifled with. (I guess I was thrown off about what this would be by all your allusions to it on Twitter.)
At the same time, I was reading this thinking that it needed to be read aloud by Morgan Freeman or James Earl Jones as the intro to a documentary or something.
@Fletch Fair enough. Judging by the comments - or therefore lack of - this post obviously isn't as well written or thought out as I thought it was... However, what I was saying on twitter was that it is a very different post in terms of construction and relevance to my core topic area. Also, the my approach to the style in which I wrote it was quite different. But none of that matters much if the post doesn't work :).
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