Words and Wûrds

As humans, we are constantly trying to find ways to express ourselves. The way we dress, speak,  smile and laugh. Or more importantly, why we laugh; rather, what we laugh at. An amusing spectacle, a clever joke, the sight of something loving, or perhaps something loved. I believe that all laughter, all emotion, perhaps all expression, are caused by two things. Words, and wûrds. They sound the same, and in many respects they are, or at least they seem to be. But what they are, how they work, and move us so, is very different. What is a word? A word is something said; something spoken, written, inscribed.  A byte of sound or perhaps sight that holds a meaning all to itself. A banner written in blue text says just the same thing as one written in red. The cloth may be black, white, green, the font may be sans serif, old roman trajan, or simple ariel; the banner may be held high, pinned to a wall, or used as a rug. So long as people can read it, the words say the same thing. their meaning is clear. In this way, words can unite us. They transcend generations. The words of Plato or the apostle John can be read just as clearly in their time as ours. Words are an encapsulation of a feeling that the reader is then in charge if interpreting. A reader of Plato can learn to love his city, or despise it’s citizens. A reader of the Bible may devote his or her life to it’s cause, it’s following, or scoff and reject it. Wûrds then, are just the opposite. Wûrds are a statement of the universe, felt through an expression. A wûrd can be as simple as a color in the mind’s eye, a flutter in the heart, the taste of air between one’s teeth. When man speaks with words, he becomes a orator. A person who rouses crowds or persuades a nation, but when  man speaks with wûrds, he is called an artist. A person whose fingertips dance on keys or strings, a person whose hands beat in rhythm, a person whose throat cries in soaring arches of somber or delightful melody. These things cannot be expressed except by one man’s wûrds, but can be understood by as many as can hear it. Music, paintings, and sculpture are all things that can speak to people from all nations, upbringings, backgrounds, and languages. When these two things work together, great things are born (by great I intend to express magnitude, not necessarily positivity). Where words on a page run together in your mind in chemical reactions, forming wûrds, or perhaps where a singer’s lyric is impressed by the melody and harmonic to which it is sung. However, because humans are human, we screw up even this simplicity. People use music to try to speak in just words, and poetry is excreted into being by people attempting to state their expression. However amid this, some things last the test of time. There are still work around that speak to this greater testament, this greater consonance between the two methods of communication of the universe. Perhaps whenthoughts are shaped, channeled, and outlined; when his feelings and current of unconsciousness can be tapped and bring forth understanding and enlightenment.