How it works...

(image by Julien Pacaud)

I've been trying to have a real conversation with the telemarketer who keeps calling. She's all about selling me some thing. I tried to tell her I'm a salesman too. I want to sell her a piece of human conversation unfettered by the dull, hypnotic trance of the marketplace. But she's not interested. So I'm left with my own oh-so-deep thoughts and no one to tell them too... except you.

Speech is often taken for granted. Sure it can order a latte, or galvanize a nation, but what else does it do? At the risk of sounding flaky (I think that risk was established here weeks ago), speech enables the soul to escape the imprisonment of the body. The words we choose are like rudders, loosely steering the soul through the outer world, in the general direction of whatever external forces it seeks to connect with. Fortunately, unlike the printed word, speech is forgiving, and should never be overly censored in real conversation. Here, shared words, thoughts, and emotions should collide, combine, and re-combine in a chain-like molecular reaction. Make mistakes. Repeat yourself. Improvise like a jazz musician at a Jamaican clam bake jam. There is always room to recalibrate, to refine, to go back, to revise. It should be fun and purposeful and enduring. It should leave one feeling uplifted, ready for action, never put upon. OK, back to work... Have you considered refinancing your home lately?