wordless exchange


I've been ever-so-quiet in this space lately - I know. I feel the silence between posts and it provokes a gnawing in my forearms, as if the blog's in danger of drying up and blowing away if I don't apply my wrists to a keyboard and start to rake and hoe, to try to plant something, to tend to it properly.

I've been half-heartedly composing a post about a trip I took with my fam to the Spiral Jetty (the picture of my dad, sis and mom above is borrowed from that excursion), but the trip was significant to me and convoluted in its significance and thus needs effort and the sort of words that need mining to explain it and lots of them... soo... hence the wait.

BUT I came across a wonderful site today called Pictory and decided my silencebreaking piece about the Spiral Jetty would just have to wait. Pictory is an arty sort of digital rag where pictures meet story, but the crossroads are executed in such a distilled and potent and significant way that it addresses a problem I have with much of the Internet in general - namely, that most of the content lacks *meaning* - substance.

In particular, I came across a Pictory spread about "Life Lessons" picked up from those who are older and wiser and was struck by this enlightened tidbit:

"I can’t hear you because your actions speak so loudly." - Larry to his to his mentee Tyler

Now, I've heard this before. And we all know the maxim Actions speak louder than words, but it has become trite and has almost taken on the patronizing ring of I know you are, but what am I? such that we no longer hear its message.

But in this incarnation of the quip, the speaker is acknowledging that the words of the other person have been taken into account, nevertheless, there is a discrepancy. I can almost picture Larry telling Tyler in a cowboy drawl, "I get what yer saying, but I can't heeeare you because yer actions speak SO dang loudly..." In effect, pinpointing the frequent contradiction between words and action.

Most of us are guilty of this failing from time to time, but it's one that's easy to dodge, mask, evade, and thus avoid being called on it. I know I'm particularly good at making excuses for people, yet, this is the sort of credo that works like a mirror - making it hard for either party to deny what the reflection actually reveals. I think I owe it to myself to use it as a rejoinder more often.

Which brings me back to my silence. What you are hearing now, in the empty oasis of quiet between posts, is seismic activity. There is a lot ambition, there always has been... and right now, in fact, (hopefully) for the next while, the reason you aren't hearing my words is because my actions are speaking so loudly.

Not a bad excuse - eh?