Today I watched the film Bright Star and I had a thought about passion—passion in life, passion in love, passion in poetry and passion in speech. I watched these people, frozen in the 18th century and I listened to their passion. There was such love in their speech (granted John Keats was a poet). I began to wonder why they were able to express themselves in such flowery language. Were people just more emotionally in touch with themselves back then? No. I think I’ve figured it out: less distraction. There was so little around to distract the masses that they were forced to sit around and talk and think and be more interesting in general. When there is less to distract you there is more time to approach thought and decipher an effective way to express what you feel. Even the Bible has concrete elements of poetic language. Think of the Book of Ruth. There is that whole passage in the beginning which get’s quoted in nearly every wedding ceremony. Ruth says to her mother-in-law Naomi, “Entreat me not to leave thee”. She could have so simply said, “Don’t ask me to leave you” but she said entreat me not instead. With the onset of great technology came the onset of great laziness in speech. We don’t have to work as hard to express ourselves, what with Facebook and Twitter readily available at our fingertips. Let’s not even get started on the fact that most of us consider texting actual conversation. I am going to make an active effort to step back.
Today’s Task: Learn to be more articulate without reliance on technology. Self- Reliance isn’t just an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson, it’s a way of life. Rely on yourself to speak your mind. Imagine all the things that you could say to someone without the abuse of a device that needs to be plugged up. Write a letter. Pay a visit. Think of the weigh that your words have when they come straight from you. Articulate please!
