I don't honestly suppose I could be who I am and not love words. I talk about them, I bend them, I play with them incessantly. This particular outlet of mine is, of course, full of words. Big surprise, huh?I was looking at an Associated Press guide to news writing, and one of the example's it cited was George Orwell's translation of one of my favorite passages of scripture, Ecclesiastes 9:11, into modern bureaucratese. For the Biblically-impaired, the original is as follows:
I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to the men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance shall happeneth to them all.
Orwell's "translation" was something like this:
Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account.
Gads. The same idea, but the "translated" version reads like a stereo owner's manual. It never ceases to amaze me the things people routinely do to the language, even teachers. "liberry" instead of "library." "Febooary" instead of "February." And yes, there are those who could tell me all about that fact that a great number of the conventions of language, especially silent letters and such, came into being because when printers used to get paid by the letter to print, eons ago, obviously, they were going to squeeze as much out of the language as possible. If you've ever read a version of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English, you realize that this isn't an absolutely impossible read, but boy howdy, it's not a "once over lightly" proposition by any means. Then there's my favorite turn of phrase from Homer's "Odyssey," where he continually describes "wine-dark seas." I don't know why that's such a favorite of mine, but it is the coolest. There still remains an important element of humanity when it comes to words; if you're like me, you find it necessary to bite your tongue when you hear about some saying that their birthday is in "Febooary," or their neighbor just bought a "Hoon-die." (The actual pronunciation of this carmaker, as I understand it, is "Hun-day.") And right about now, my southern friends are probably cussing me out, thinking about how I just don't get it. Relax. Dialectics I understand, and appreciate, although I work hard that we as a world all understand each other. I appreciate regional differences, sloppiness overtaking the accepted conventions is what gets me. I cringe every time a person of color wants to "axe" me a question. The thought of the axe itself is horrifying enough, their butchery of the English language is even worse. In short, there's no harm in coloring your language a bit, and nothing outlawing pure invention by a long shot. But care for the words you choose to say. Show how much you can think.

I say all this for one simple reason. I feel bad that journalism as I knew it, and more importantly as I was trained for it, is dying. Even prior to the "economic downturn," newspaper advertising revenues had fallen flat on their collective faces, because no one has time to sit and read newspaper, unless you're retired, unemployed or dying, in which case, why would you? The term "economic downturn," by the way, just irks me to no end; "economic downturn?" That sounds like we tripped over a crack in the sidewalk. The current situation is the gaping jaws of financial Hell, one which will inevitably leave a trail of the bodies of the weak in its path. A vicious, life-sucking force, admittedly made from our collective greed as a society. If you're like me, you knew it was all going to come crashing back down to earth some time or other. It was just a question of when, mostly. And what will be the real expense, aside from that counted as bodies of the dead be? That there will never be any going back to what a lot of people have ever known. Lay bare the fantasy of infinite knowledge, instant accessibility, and the idea of a "world without walls." What I think we will come back to, is the importance of our cultural and human selves, and the importance of what we should do, and how much we should really contemplate our actions. Instant gratification, I think, is dead. What you want, you will be required to work for, by the sweat of your own ingenuity, and your consideration for the needs of others. A return to the basic occupations; teacher, fireman, policeman, doctor......those that stand as pillars of a civilization. Systems Analyst? Mortgage Banker? You're fluff, sorry to say. As expendable as society dictates you are. Part of a generation of us are exhausted from taking care of loved ones who have slowly lost their minds, forcing us to consider whether longevity in years is worth the price you pay in mind. Some may say no. But not for no good reason. We have a lifetime, dicatated to us by God. Going against this prospect is acting against His will, I think, and we are all paying, and will continue to do so.

I also think the Madoff scandal spells the end of greed on a scale many have known it since the days of the movie "Wall Street." Way back before Michael Douglas was looking like his father used to. Funny how that works. Welcome back to a world you can understand. And grab a paddle, while you're at it.