Writing is very powerful.
As an example, have you ever been reduced to a blubbering teary mess because you’ve got a major I.T. problem and an error message flashing on the screen that is seemingly written in another language?
I have.
And actually, if it wasn’t for the fact that I tend to shut the whole machine down and come back again later (because this has been drummed into me over the years), I might have had a complete nervous breakdown right there and then.
I’m not sure why, but companies that make I.T. software for businesses seem to be made up of twitching rodent people who live in dark cardboard boxes, never seeing another human being.
The industry is famous for producing error messages that actually have no meaning at all.
So not only are you bathing in a pool of your own sweat because your computer has stopped working less than one hour before a critical deadline, but the company who is responsible for the product you are using has just given you an error message that tells you nothing at all.
Something like, “Error 542: Bad connection to server. Please try again.”
There is nowhere to go with such a message, because it is pretty much devoid of meaning.
Of course, all of us do try again multiple times, in the hope that the problem will magically disappear all by itself. This is of course very rare, but we’re desperate creatures.
Luckily, people who work in I.T. support businesses that have to deal with such problems are amazingly resilient, calm and patient in the face of such unhelpful information. Personally, I use a great small business in my area who quickly and calmly works out what is wrong, fixes the issue and saves my life at an unbelievably competitive price.
However, the fact that we have all felt such pain when we are diligently working away in our businesses really does demonstrate how important writing is.
Words have such great power to help and empower us or to squash us flat and squeeze all the oxygen out of our lungs.
A word is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as “a single unit of language that has meaning and can be spoken or written.”
I love this definition because it sums up so well all words really are, just something with meaning that we either speak or write.
When the meaning in the word meets the meaning you are looking for, you get poetry in motion and amazing results, baby.
When the meaning in the word doesn’t meet the meaning you are looking for, you get a steaming pile of excrement and potentially snot on the keyboard.