Monday, October 20, 2008

I'm a loser; You're a loser. Its all okay.

Words can sometimes cause more harm than good. I'm not so sure that its about the conscious intention. Rather, its that words are interpreted by our brains already filled with a range of mind drama. And often, words are flung about rather carelessly, with little notion, at first, of the impact that they might make on their recipient. Take falling in love, for example. It's possible to fall in love with a bunch of words on a screen. But it's just as easily possible to fall out of love that way. So then the relationship of words with words and energies from that, is really something that might dwindle to nothingness if it's left to simmer for a while in a pot of mental melodrama. The spice of the inner workings of the mind is not to be underestimated, of course. It has the innate ability to add a wonderous flavour to the energies of a fertile imagination in cultivating the grandiose interest. For a time, souls are convincingly quenched. But then, it also has the skill to deftly carve some doubt and plant some insiduous seeds of resentment, bitterness and even guilt in the garden of an already infested psyche.

Now take chat for practical instance. Words are all you have to work with. Mxit. GoogleChat. Mirc for days gone by. And Facebook, and a whole realm of instant messenger de(vices). While words generate and transport energy, their static one-dimensionality on screen is an easy hoax for their danger to hurt or create misunderstandings. "You're such a loser" may sound like a cool rebuff. It can be read as a deep affront. "Don't be an idiot, dimwit, fag, five-year-old" The list is imaginatively endless. Then there's the protocols unobserved. e.g. "My dear" is not endearing to most independent females. Condescending tone is easily accompliced to an unsavoury choice of words. And the results are disasterous. Catastrophic even. Chat is bad enough, without the real elements, the human interaction, the smiles and facial nuances, the communication of eye to eye...soul to soul. Chat, distorted by unreliable connectivity and words misplaced is a nightmare. Telkom needs some competition methinks.

But what does all this say of the speaker of these arbitrary weapons of mass destruction? It's NOT okay. It doesnt feel okay. I do it. You do it. It doesnt make it okay. We're taught to love thy neighbour. Ideally, we all want to grow up to be astute and loving folk who will honour and respect our fellow beings. Maybe it's time we started with ourselves, for a change.

With love, honour and respect...
Shafs

NB: In tribute to a celebrated individual who has made a profound impact on my life this last year or so. Shabash! ;)

8 comments:

Nuraan said...

this is so true..
btw, you are a brilliant writer. you tend to put into words, thoughts that i cant articulate.

Az said...

Shaf - I've been on the "Telkom needs competition" bandwagon since I was 14 years old and they were eating up my monthly allowance (+ the 14% VAT).

Respect
Thats what we need. Respecting each other's views and opinions. Respecting ourselves. I always say that South African's are not reared or taught to have enough respect.

We dont respect ourselves (Thats why we abuse ourselves so much ie. social issues). We dont respect our environment (Thats why theres this need to Destroy every single thing that we get ie. Parks, Railways etc). And most of all, we dont respect Others (We always have to be right no matter what)...

We should learn to accept each other for who we are...

and Salsa the rest of it away... :D

bb_aisha said...

Friendships broken over text messages...apologies hastily issued over misread IM's...it's a tricky ground if not used appropriately..
some say emoticons show a lack of eloquency..i disagree..in the absence of facial gestures & tone, emoticons somewhat convey them.

Anonymous said...

A wise lady once told me "Words are things" :)

JT

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

@ nk: thanks for the visit, lady...
and the kind words :)

@ azra: i agree. respect and self-respect go hand-in-hand. for a time, its tricky not to juggle some amount of prejudice, but it should get us off our feet and questioning our base assumptions, or the information that is thrown our way every once in a while...
LOL.. And Salsa the rest of it away! I love that!
And just one more thing, instead of actually identifying the difference of 'other' actually celebrating the sameness of spirit.

@ bb: ur right about the use of emoticons. and things like *sigh*, *hugs* and a whole range of additional responses are possible. But still tricky...

@ jt: its true. i meant it :P
so much for that sticks n stones story, hey

Anonymous said...

the thing is that we have changed the way we communicate with each other....especially loved ones, we engage now mostly online...takes away some of the personal touch....the written form of communication once used to be lovingly crafted words, with pen and ink, the solid feel of the pen against ones hand, the gentle pressing down on paper...now its some nifty typing, with fingers moving so fast, sometimes we lose track of the words...yeah communication nowadays may be faster and more techno-savvy, but is it as human as it used to be...sigh, bring back the days of the quill feather pen...i say, and the romance of expecting a love letter, sealed in red wax..if only...

Shubnum said...

Interesting and often true post. Chat distances you away from what you say. Adds a dimension that people should make allowances for. But then, what about untrue things?

Shafinaaz Hassim said...

aw, CC... tell me you've received letters sealed with red wax etc?
if i had to write that into a contemporary novel.. would be a rather interesting (quaint) and unidentifiable read. :P

hi dew'd...
truth is subjective... unfortunately (or fortunately) open to interpretation... sometimes clouded over by a particular perception (however right or wrong it may be)
you're right though, the detachment and need to make allowances for that n-th dimension of chat can get a bit tricky. we all think that we're adept at communicating that way, but it can get lost on us as some point. you're a writer, so you know how challenging it can be trying to convey the senses to readers. and like any form of art, interpretations will still vary, often unpredictably.