Our World of Words

"The unreal is more powerful than the real, because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. Because it's only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. Stone crumbles, wood rots, people, well, they die, but things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on"

-- Chuck Pahlahniuk

Look around you and listen. Everywhere you see words on billboards, the screen in front of you, the side of your water bottle, and even at the back of your neck, attached to your collar. Everyday, you speak words, hear words, and read words. Words surround us like an invisible aura and perhaps it is because of this that people seem to have forgotten their significance.

Words are not just objects to look at, spout out, or hear. With constant cursing on television and an overly stimulated, overly stressed everyday population encircling us, their effect has lost its potency. No one cares to watch what they say even though words are what ties everyone together. Call out "f*ck you!" from a rolled down car window and you get a similar response or a roll of the eyes as the person drives past you. Finally get an "I love you" from that special someone only to discover later that everything between you wasn't what it seemed.

Look back at those memories and all you remember are the words. What he/she said or that jerk yelled out their window as they drove past. This is why what you say is so important and why reading and writing matter. The words last long after the moment is gone.

-- William Shakespeare. Hamlet. Act II, Scene 2

Where's Shakespeare?

I've been a literature nerd since the fifth grade when I read one of C.S. Lewis's novels immediately followed by J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. My subsequent obsession with Tolkien's works led to a love of reading in general that's never died.

The day I took my first steps as a student onto my university campus, I marched into the necessary offices and had the necessary forms signed and turned in declaring myself a Literature major, something I'd planned from that fifth grade class until that moment. Of course, everyone thought I was nuts. In this economy, I was reminded, I should be going for nursing or something business related, using my skills at math (surprisingly, I tended to get better grades in math and science after high school even though I hate those subjects) to assure myself a high paying job straight out of school.

Still, no matter how well I could balance equations or mix chemicals, reading and composing a piece of writing never ceased to intrigue me and remained my passion. Sitting alone with only the clacking of keys as I wrote with only the glow of the computer screen or sitting in a comfy chair in the library with a book was much more satisfying than numbers and the hopes of a huge paycheck. Going to class to discuss almost every great quote, provocative scene, or author's stylistic choices left me heading home overjoyed at the chance to talk to real literature peoples about what I'd read or written.

I've always been more of a follow your heart rather than reason sort of person. This might seem like a downfall but it made it immensely easy for me to continue to stroll along a path doomed to fail, according to those outside of the realm of books, words, and writing I surrounded myself with. The further along I got, the more I found that I, amongst my fellow bibliomaniacs, began to really wonder why others considered this choice in studies useless.

Once someone realizes you're a student, they ask what you are studying. When the response is literature, the now shocked inquisitor usually follows with something like "why?" as they stand aghast. My first thought was always "why not?" which was followed by a verbal explanation of how awesome books and writing is.

After much classroom deliberation, my fellow lit nerds and I realized that what the outside world believed was useless wasn't where the studying would lead us but more the idea that one could get anything out of a book besides entertainment. Books in their world were like movies or reality tv, that could be watched mindlessly as one sat disengaged in a stupor of a zombie-like trance. To them, reading had nothing to do with other skills such as writing, analyzing, discussion, and other communication skills that are necessary in the real world just beyond the book covers.

Before even the fifth grade, I remember being obsessed with spelling. In the second grade I earned rewards for both spelling and neatness of handwriting. This laminated paper accomplishment is still hidden amongst the many papers and things I gathered from all my school years and yes, I'm still pretty proud of my little second grade self and my growing love of those words.

Perhaps this obsession over words, so intense whole debates and discussions could be held within my university classrooms, is the reason why our papers within the literature realm held a different quality from those I read that were written by nursing or business majors. We lit nerds had been consumed by words for years. Every word and bit of punctuation was just as essential as the ink it was printed on. Why say "good" when you can say "awesome?" Why settle for "interesting" when it can be "intriguing?"

If others outside my sphere of readers and writers would appreciate words more I believe that perhaps the issues I have read amongst fellow Hubbers about honesty and simple manners would dissipate. Taking the time to choose words wisely would make every promise or apology much more genuine. Words can act as an unseen bond, a caress, or a teacher and they should not be wasted. Pay attention to what you say and you would be surprised how people react with you. I personally do not curse and I use words that sometimes cause my audience to pull out a dictionary or other research device to figure out what I say. This is a cause for many laughs but they know that what I say is deliberate in order to be truly honest because my words are never empty.

Think about it, do you want to talk to a ranting curse-aholic or an articulate person who cares about what comes out of their mouth? Which do you want to be?