The Beauty of Words

With so many social medias available to us, the number of words we "emit" can be tremendous. Do we take them seriously?
In my life, I have used five different languages to accomplish my daily living. We lived in China and learned Mandarin, however, we lived in Canton where Cantonese is spoken. We lived in Barcelona, Spain and learned Spanish. The locals there speak Catalan. I also have a fair grasp of English. Having lived outside of my own language gave me a great appreciation for words, their meanings, their uses, and their nuances.
Many languages in Asia utilize pictographs rather than letters to form a written language. These pictographs represent both verbal sounds and concepts. Combinations of those "radicals" create words. One of my favorite words is a combination of three radicals. The word is love. The top radical is "heart", the second is "roof", and the third is "friend". When viewed as a picture we see a friend who is housed is one's heart. What a beautiful description of love. Another favorite comes from faith vocabulary particularly important to Christians. The word for "redemption", which existed prior to the first missionaries, is composed of two radicals. The top being "lamb". The lower radical is the pronoun "me". As a picture we have me under the lamb. Christian faith defines redemption as me and my life made whole by the overseeing of Jesus, the "sacraficial lamb".
Never in my years living in China did I feel I had a sufficient grasp of Mandarin to be able to engage in casual conversation. Fortunately, we were being hosted by a university and it was our director's responsibility to be by our sides to translate in any vital conversation. That was not the case in Spain. I hit the airport tarmac in need of a second language. It would have been nice to have it! One of the prevailing images I have of myself is that of a three year old trying to conduct an adult's business. My language skills were immature, yet my need of language was not. "Estoy bien." was about as descriptive as I could be for months when asked,"?Como estas?" Quite often I was dismissed as a direct result of my language skills. How many times did I see that roll of eyes and down turn of the lips when I tried to explain myself? Our vocabulary, our word choices, our command of language all define us and cast an impression of our being.
Phrases and idioms which help to define a culture are also created from words. One of my favorite Spanish phrases is "a la mesa". Simply put it means "at the table". When used in the context of a leisurely evening with friends, a cool breeze coming off the Med, the scents of a well prepared meal, the tinkle of wine gobets toasting the evening "a la mesa" is an event, an expression of emotion, a way of being, a perspective.
One of the most difficult moments when living in a second language is knowing that you need words to communicate something vital but they are out of your grasp; a visit to the doctor with a sick child, an unexplained deficit in one's bank account, purchasing a $20,000 car. Our words can give us a sense of convidence, a certainty of our position in relationship to the rest of the world. It is also a basic need to express ourselves and to be engaged in communication with others. What child hasn't turned to their mother and asked, "Why?" after the mother said, "I love you." The words expressed at the side of a widow can nourish and sustain or damage. How many cards have I stored away in my top drawer over the years because I wanted to keep kind words at hand?
We have a great many new means by which to communicate, or do we have a great many new means to transmit communication? Ultimately, what we say and the words we choose is communication. Do these new forms encourage us to more wise and thoughtful in our word choice, or does the ease of transmission create laziness?