Words are powerful
I know that I’ve said many times that words are free, that words can create, carve, structure, embroider, shout … do all of the things that language can and should without cost to one’s gender, one’s weight or one’s bank account. However … there are times, and these “times” are becoming more frequent, when words appear in my world without reference to anything in my experience.
There I am watching television and a commercial comes on for a major car manufacturer, during which the actor tells the young man in the car that it can sync with his devices. I shook my head, wondering, did I hear that correctly? What is a sync? I mean, I listen to people, watch the TV, read newspapers (when they are available), books, magazines and all of a sudden there is this word with which other people are familiar and I’m not. This new “word creep” happens in other arenas too. What is BB cream? All of a sudden the TV is touting the wonderfulness of BB cream. Just as I was becoming familiar with what this is, another cosmetic house began advertising CC cream. My eyes are starting to spin. It’s like being in physics class. Back then, everything seemed to be going well. I understood what was going on and then, I didn’t. It was like I left the room for a year and returned in 10 minutes to find that everything had changed.
My newest mystery is “woke.” All of these chic hipsters are using this word, and I have no idea what it means. I don’t know if it is an adjective, a noun or a verb, so that makes it even more difficult to comprehend.
Speech and written words are hallmarks of humanity, the veritable shoulders on which we stand, pulling the experience and knowledge of those who went before us into use, knowledge and experiences on which to build.
Sometimes this is good. Sometimes this is not good.
Words do not exist out of context. Each of us bring shades of meaning to every word, some subtle, some not-so-subtle. Take the differences between the male and the female languages. Yes, every language has this dichotomy. When I say “clean the kitchen,” it means something different than when a male says “clean the kitchen.” Should I go on?
The word “life” – what does it mean?
What is the meaning of life within the context of pandemic? What meaning does coronavirus have for us? COVID-19 kills the elderly, those with comorbidities, a word with which most of us have just become comfortable, and people of African, Hispanic and Native American heritage more frequently.
The virus knows nothing of skin color or age or ethnicity. It exists where it is possible for it to exist. We have created those categories and life histories that form increased susceptibility.
Our perception of life within a pandemic lead to behaviors. Those who see it as advantageous to protect life and the economy wear masks, avoid extended personal contact, particularly in crowds and follow the facts shared by science. Those who see life differently, who see these restrictions as a denial of their freedom, who think that the virus is no more serious than the flu, who want first to protect the specific economic structure of a society, who are willing to tolerate preventable sickness and death to achieve their goals, will ignore the pronouncements of science and refuse to wear masks, etc. Same words, different understandings and behaviors.
What should have united us against this invasion that has killed over 120 thousand people in less than four months, has fractioned us, exposed us to the denigration of science and facts in favor of political goals, weakened our strength as a nation and raised our consciousness to an equally-invisible virus of privilege that holds some populations as less.
And, while we seek to understand the variables, the cultural constructs that have made some communities more susceptible than others, we have been asked to relate to three words, the weight of which are as powerful as COVID-19, yet words that need a common understanding.
How do we come to understand the meaning of Black Lives Matter as we watched from the comfort of our socially distancing couches as the knee of a police officer ended the life of a man who begged for breath and called out for his mother? Can we share something of the long-held perception of citizens whose lives were regarded with disdain, both by overt action and systemic disregard?
Can we be who we know we should be?
Words are powerful. Use them wisely. Make your actions congruent with your words.
