The Power of One Little Word

One of the greatest joys of parents early in a child's life is waiting to hear what the first word will be, the anticipated utterance that will connect this baby's first thoughts with a word that consciously names it. Whether it is  the traditional mama or daddy, the great expectation is for the word itself.


As this child grows up, each additional word will accompany the growth of the thinking and experiential processes, and what could be more exciting or more important than accumulating words for a lifetime of communicating, not only for the people surrounding this new little wordsmith but especially for the child herself.  And once he learns the power of language, the words will come streaming in, but then what?  What will happen when choices about language are made, inadvertently or consciously, and will the choices perhaps be directed at a child who will have little control over them?  That could be unfortunate at best and scary at worst.  Why?


Words change our lives.  We wait for them with longing, sometimes with great anxiety--the words of love or understanding between ordinary human beings, the apology, the explanation, the diagnosis, even simply a yes or  no.  What enormous potential for communicating are words, clear and luminous so that we may see beyond the darkness and into the light of knowing.


Hence, my next twenty-five blog posts will focus on those words that contribute to lambent literacy.  The posts will be short enough to learn some new words with few encumbrances and long enough to glean some additional fodder for thinking, reading, and writing and communicating with power.


Let's begin now.  Here goes.


Word One:  deus ex machina  (Okay, that's three and they're Latin, but if you separate them, you lose the meaning.  So try to see them as one word.)


Definition:  the literal translation from Latin is god from the machine. I first heard the term when I was studying Shakespeare and the technical stage in which a "god" suddenly appears from the mechanical workings of the stage to solve a seemingly unsolvable problem.  The evolution of deus ex machina has resulted in any plot device in which a problem is suddenly resolved by a stroke of good luck, an unexpected and inspired intervention saving a character or situation from disaster. 


Does this remind you of, say, Harry Potter? You've no doubt seen this sudden and perhaps somewhat unbelievable rescue a number of times in literature or film, but let's look at it in a new light, a metaphorical one.


Could a person act as a deus ex machina, metaphorically, of course?  What if you have a friend or family member who shows up just at the right time to get you out of trouble, help you, or simplify a complex situation you have suddenly found yourself in?  Wouldn't that person be your deus ex machina? It's something to think about, right?  Good.  Let the word roll  around in your head a while like a familiar tune that won't go away.  And remember, it's actually not a new concept in literature.  We sometimes call it coincidence or the universe stepping in, but a rose by any other name would smell as sweet....(Those are Shakespeare's words.)Anyway, you get my drift.  Try to use your new word.  That's the best way to own it. See you in the next post.