Thoughts on Words

Sometimes words let me down.

I'm a student of English and a strong believer in the transforming power of language. As trite as it sounds, I am back in school because I feel a connection with literature and the way humans have used words to convey the most complex emotions, situations, and outlooks on life.... and the way that I can read their thoughts on paper, a hundred years later, and say, "that's exactly how I feel. His thoughts echo my own."

I can write the most convincing literary argument and get that "A." I can interpret historical documents and find meaning in the speeches of people I've never met and never will.

Yet sometimes when I want to express what's most important to me, in relation to people in my life and not out of a Penguin paperback, I fall hopelessly short. Then I'm left wondering how much I'm sacrificing because I cannot formulate my feelings into words beyond the superficial.