Language: Course for Human Suffering

In all things there is a caveat to things I have to say.  One of them is that I do not have perfect grammar.  Also in no way would I classify myself as a 'grammar Nazi'.   Though I said in the past year or so some of the most special people in my life have rubbed their grammatical expertise on me.

The idea of words and grammar has also become important to me specifically in the past two years now since I am a technical 'professional' writer.   This mostly means I get paid some sort of pittance for my typing on a keyboard a few moments a week.

What does bug me at times is the idea that words can become frivolous in their usage.  Grammar aside (just ask about the legendary discussion with my brother about the usage of 'irregardless'.) the biggest threat to our culture and being human is the ability for people to be responsible for the words they say.  Somewhere both in real life and on the internet people have forgotten that they can get punched in the mouth very quickly.

Of course I would never punch a friend unless it was really useful or really funny.   Ask my friends and hopefully they will see me as a lover and not a fighter.  I would say ask my enemies, but usually they are hiding under rocks and trees looking to escape from their own fantasy world of importance.   

Having spent almost 20 years (yes gang,  almost 20 years in its different versions) very little phases or surprise me.  The cons that people unfortunately fall for being the same cons that were done in paper form and on rudimentary internet pages before home computers became affordable.  I was tinkering around on dial up bbs's in the middle 80's (don't tell my mom and please never let her watch the movie Wargames again).   Anonymous punks just as long as someone's opinion were put on the screen for others to read.  

What tends to bother me the most is when people that I actually know will say painful and hurtful things to others.  This isn't a matter of disagreement,  but just simply screaming and cursing someone simply to fulfill an argument.   That is the sad thing about communication.  People can communicate pain much easier than they can communicate ideas to others.   There is always a certain amount of anger and pain towards someone we know.  It may be buried away somewhere inside of us,  but everyone has disappointed someone else at some point.   Far too many people use that as a weapon when they are angry or frustrated at another.

I play World of Warcraft almost daily.  It is what I get paid to play and to learn and teach.   Tonight and this weekend, Blizzard announced that they are going to be delaying the next expansion til late in the fall.   This ended up being another 6 months of the same content.  For some reason this sparked a very aggressive stance on many things shared.  There are open communication channels inside the game that allow people to speak across 'zones' to other players in those zones.  Usually they are used to answer questions and obtain information.  Sometimes they are used to harass others or cause anger from others.  The term 'Troll' has been used to describe these for many years of group gaming.  This goes beyond instigating for humor or entertainment but simply anger being brushed out in words.

Never say that I haven't made my share of people angry in my life.  Just ask some of my ex girlfriends just how frustrating, I can be.   Easier to find my friends who will tell you that I can be frustrating.  But words carry so much weight with them that they become less of a scapel and more of a club.  Words such as hate and love carrying just as much power behind them when they are swung around.

I am no philosopher.   Or as was said in the movie History of the World Part 1 a 'stand up philosopher'.  Just being a human being on the same road that everyone else walks with a mental pad and paper in my hand watching as people join me and leave me.

The battle with all things is to watch what I do first.  When was the last time I hurt someone with my words out of anger.  When was the last time that I shared something that helped someone else.  A kind word or to help them believe that they are human as well.  Did I add anything to the tapestry of life today?   Did I unravel some of the strings and start to lose someone in my life again.   Perhaps even worse is when I stay silent and involved in my own version of the Bat cave.  Surrounded by memories and walls that others do not dare to try to climb.

My mother taught me for many years to clean up your own house before looking to clean others.   Coming from a person that rarely a harsh word out of anger was spread for others to hear I can see her point.  It becomes easy to point out the faults and the pain others cause without seeing the horror show we can bring to others.  A friendly verbal smack on the back of the head becomes a dangerous abuse at the wrong time.   Never to be forgotten when that person is down and needs a hug.  We never truly know how someone might feel in their life that some point.  

So to clean up my life first I look at my speech patterns.   Do I show love to the children I see on Sunday even in my gruff manner?  Do my friends know I love them and care about them.  Does my family see it when they need me?   Or do they see the wall again to not anger the Dragon unless you want to see the full blunt of imagined hatred for them.  

That is always the question answer in everything both I and others do.  What do people see in speech patterns in both the good and the bad days.  Do they ask the questions or just assume that they are next on the firing line to be massacred by a verbal tirade?

Always questions to answer in the future weeks.

Joseph Douglas