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Me too! There’s something about ASL… I think it’s an example of that phenomenon where you take something so familiar that you take it for granted, move it into a totally unfamiliar setting, and suddenly see it with new eyes, and know how wonderful it really is. In this case, it’s the thinking and feeling human mind communicating to other thinking and feeling human minds.
We hearing people jabber away at each other all day long, on subjects trivial and deep, profound and nonsensical — workaday words, placeholder conversations, internal dialogs! And people in other countries use different words and grammar, but it’s all so similar, really. No Big Deal.
But when you change modes completely, from hearing to seeing, from voice to motion, it’s as if the phenomenon itself shines through. You’re no longer blinded by the familiar.
It’s language, the scaffold on which we erect our thoughts, the method we use we share those thoughts, and the means we use to recognize each other as alive, as thinking, and as human.
This is a phenomenon so amazing as to be nearly miraculous. And the thing is, you can’t stop it! People will find a way to communicate!
And when they do, what will they talk about?
Subjects trivial and deep, profound and nonsensical. Wisecracks. Encouragement. Dreaming out loud.
Rosemary Kirstein is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com
December 1st, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Okay, that totally made me cry. Thank you for posting it, Rosemary!
December 2nd, 2010 at 6:39 am
Elizabeth —
Me too! There’s something about ASL… I think it’s an example of that phenomenon where you take something so familiar that you take it for granted, move it into a totally unfamiliar setting, and suddenly see it with new eyes, and know how wonderful it really is. In this case, it’s the thinking and feeling human mind communicating to other thinking and feeling human minds.
We hearing people jabber away at each other all day long, on subjects trivial and deep, profound and nonsensical — workaday words, placeholder conversations, internal dialogs! And people in other countries use different words and grammar, but it’s all so similar, really. No Big Deal.
But when you change modes completely, from hearing to seeing, from voice to motion, it’s as if the phenomenon itself shines through. You’re no longer blinded by the familiar.
It’s language, the scaffold on which we erect our thoughts, the method we use we share those thoughts, and the means we use to recognize each other as alive, as thinking, and as human.
This is a phenomenon so amazing as to be nearly miraculous. And the thing is, you can’t stop it! People will find a way to communicate!
And when they do, what will they talk about?
Subjects trivial and deep, profound and nonsensical. Wisecracks. Encouragement. Dreaming out loud.
Talking to astronauts.
December 1st, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Ha–that’s fun!