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Saturday, February 3, 2018

The Importance of Communication





The dictionary description of communication is: “The imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing or using some other medium.”

How deceptively simple that sounds when put into practise. In terms of the importance of communication skills I rate it second only to that collective group of elements that give all creatures life.

Had all people been created speaking one language and sharing the same culture life would be so much simpler. However that would have been a life without challenge so we have been given the task of succeeding at whatever we choose to do in spite of our differences.

Even among people of the same language and culture the skill of communicating effectively and efficiently seems among the missing gifts of life. We must learn the skills and develop them and keep them alive.

Communication problems start in the home, first between brothers. These are people of the same blood and gender who have the best chances of understanding each other, as does their sisters. Yet they are constantly fighting each other over misunderstandings. What chance have their mother and father, a man and a woman who as we know come from different worlds,

So far we haven’t even left the four walls of the home and already the war is raging. It only intensifies when politics and religion are introduced. Then when we introduce someone from outside the home, such as an intimate friend of the boy or girl we really begin to stir things up.

Thus far the home serves as a microcosm of society in general except that it hasn’t introduced into the mix the foreign tongue and culture unless that came in with the lovers of the children.

For adults and children we try to make ourselves understood.  What do we need? How should we ask for it so that you completely understand? Sometimes I actually know what I mean, but how are you supposed to understand me if I am not even clear to myself?

The plot thickens very fast when we try communication across languages and cultures. However, communication can also be tremendously funny when we want to be.

Here are some famous examples:

“Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.” Anonymous

“I find I scream the same way whether I`m about to be devoured by a Great White, or a piece of seaweed touches my foot.” – Kevin James

“Throwing acid is wrong, in some people’s eyes.”- Jimmy Carr

“If at first you don’t succeed read the manual.” Montgomery’s Law

“The first draft of anything is shit-“Ernst Hemingway

And finally this real gem from George Carlin:

“Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?”

Ah yes, communications. Ain’t it grand?



Copyright © 2018

Eugene Carmichael