Words # 2

Contray to the post i wrote a while back, this one is in favour of words. I'm not sure why i feel the need to discuss such an obvious subject, but for some reason i do.

Previously i pointed out all the problems with words... which i still think are valid problems... but i was also thinking today about the amazing benefits and beauty of having a language system comprised of words.

Without words i couldn't write this post. Without words there would be so much that couldn't be expressed. I was thinking how frustrating it must be for people with speech and language problems. How there can be so much beauty and depth and even pain trapped inside a body which can't let it out. When i was first ill i had a lot of problems with my speech... i physically couldn't speak for whole periods of time... or when i did it was just stuttered, jolted words. Even now, before i have a seizure, i have speech arrest. I have no way of even explaining to some-one that i can't speak because i'm about to have a seizure. This is quite frustrating and very strange. I remember in hospital i had to simply write things down for a while, because my seizures and drugs had disturbed my speaking ability so much. Anyway, i was considering how i found it very frustrating then and how it gave me a much deeper level of understanding and compassion for people who have speech or language problems. It made me see the value of speech and communication even more. Without words, we would all be trapped in this state of being unable to communicate certain things. Words have a great value. This is evident in people who have had strokes too, who lose certian language skills and are unable to remember certain words. It is a truely sad thing to see some-one go through that. There is no doubt about that.

Without words, life would be very, very, different. Without words i couldn't read the bible. Infact, the bible wouldn't even exist. That would be tragic. There is so much great truth that is communicated through these words. So much beauty and life in these words. I was thinking about this more because of the fact that my Dad is going to work at an organisation who print bibles and christian literature for the blind. I had never really bothered thinking about what it would be like to have no easy access to a bible, in a country which is full of bibles, just because you can't see. The work they do at this organisation is invaluable. I can't imagine what it would be like to be unable to read books or a bible whenever i wanted. Obviously, because of braille, it is possible for blind people to do that now... but still there is such small access to such literature... and in other countries there is none. A braille bible takes up a whole massive shelf, you can't even carry it round easily. I take my bible and books for granted. Without words and language i couldn't read all the books i read, i couldn't learn all the things i can learn. I couldn't read or hear the word of God.

I know words and language are limited, but the fact that we have the ability to have any language is amazing. The fact that we can use words even in a limited form is remarkable. I shouldn't have complained about words so much before. Today i feel like saying that i love words and language, despite the difficulties they do produce.