May 2019
Read These Words
Harry Scherer
Class of 2022
Prove it. Show me! Do you have any
pictures?
These commands, exhortations and
inquiries are repeated many times a day by skeptical,
pushy or inquisitive persons. We live in a world in which
the written word, or words of any kind, are given little
credence. The claim that a picture is worth a thousand
words is peddled by tabloid editors and social media
gurus. Do we have to surrender to this mantra and
relinquish our powers as functioning, rational human
persons that are able to competently convey meaning
through words? Absolutely not.
The root of the problem of
accepting images as superior to an eloquent and meaningful
combination of words seems to lie in the shift in emphasis
in secondary and higher education. The building blocks of
impactful speech, logic and rhetoric are not intentionally
taught to high schoolers and college students, leaving the
future generation defenseless against the influences of
illogical reasoning and dissonant speech. Unless one is
taught at an institution which attempts to mimic the
merits of a classical education, students must fend for
themselves in the world of flashy pictures and seven-word
headlines.
With this incompetent formation,
one without even rudimentary foundations of philosophy,
our generation fails to recognize the existence and
influence of absolute truth, one that is the case in every
time and place and in every circumstance. Instead, words
are used to craft "interpretations," which cloud the
understanding of the reader, rather than clarify.
Another factor which has led to
the degradation of the written word is the frequent use of
social media. By the very use of the instrument, persons
necessarily limit their actions and personal development
into a series of recent pictures or a 280-character stream
of thoughts. There is no room for explanation or analysis
in these media. Instead of actually seeing the changes
that persons make in their actions or the eccentricities
of their thoughts, a recognition requiring personal
contact, we are confined to pictures and tweets that
submit to the "wow" factor.
Nowhere is this more evident than
on "Catholic Twitter," an informal group of Catholic
laymen, priests and religious who share their thoughts on
Catholic life, culture and recent events. Because users
are limited to 280 characters in describing the beauty of
life in a Church which claims to house the limitless, the
problem of incomplete and confusing narratives arises.
Well-meaning tweeters succumb to shining the spotlight on
fellow members of the Church with whom they disagree,
furthering confusion with regard to love and respect for
the Papacy, and even minimizing the breadth and influence
of the faith. With all of these unfortunate effects of the
medium, there is little emphasis on being cogent, lucid or
respectful in the way ideas are presented.
In the same way, reading and
writing have become less impactful today because of the
instant gratification surrounding these media. Instead of
sitting and analyzing a text or laboriously meditating on
the most impactful manner in which to use words, persons
prefer to digitally blurt out whatever comes to their
minds, without consideration to diplomacy, or read a
misleading headline from the source which most aligns with
their political ideology.
The degradation of political
dialogue is another symptom from an apathetic view of the
written word. Instead of genuinely considering political
philosophy and thoughtful political analysis, citizens are
left to fight for who can embarrass persons on the other
side of the political spectrum. We have no weapons with
which to fight those with whom we disagree other than
personal insults and purely pathetic arguments.
With all these complaints, it lies
in our hands to change the course of linguistic
appreciation. Because the future of our political,
religious and cultural discourse revolves around an
intentional use of the written word, we have the
obligation to recognize and act upon the benefits of a
proper use of the language upon which we have been
bestowed.
It would benefit us to read works
which stretch our literary comfort. Instead of only
reading entertaining science fiction novels, it would be
beneficial to read a historical account of a time period
for which we have previously given little thought. An
ability to competently read across genres is a specialized
skill which few people have and benefits us to see the
different perspectives from which many different persons
come.
In addition, it would be
beneficial to explore the details of news stories beyond
the cover picture and catchy headline. The purpose of
these two marketing necessities is to draw in the reader
to the content by whatever means necessary. For example,
headlines can be unintentionally misleading by forgoing
context and other essential information which is analyzed
in the text. Also, pictures capture that onto which the
eyes latch. Instead of informing, the cover photo
attracts.
Satisfaction with simply absorbing
incomplete information from a headline and photo can
immediately lead to misunderstanding and ignorance.
Because much of the thoughts and opinions which we all
have are informed by nuanced understandings of
information, it is essential to recognize the perspective
from which another person is coming so that we recognize
the flaws of our own thoughts or the way in which we are
portraying them.
Finally, for the young who feel
that they have received an incomplete education and fear
that the future leaders of our generation think
illogically and speak unclearly, it would greatly serve us
to invest in a short guide to logical thinking and grammar
book. An ability to think in a lucid manner and speak
eloquently is a lost art for our generation and will
predict who will lead our culture into the next decades.
We should be armed with the defenses of clear thought and
coherent words so that we may rightly inform the
uninformed about the truths of our world and effects of
our actions.
Read it. Say it! Do you have any
thoughts?
Read other articles by Harry Scherer
Words
Angela Guiao
MSMU Class of 2021
Growing up, I’ve always wanted to
be a writer. I would write little stories and draw
pictures and staple the papers together so that they’d
look like pages in a book. I always thought words held a
lot of importance, and words always proved to be the best
form of communication, at least for me. It was a way that
I could explain myself. This was the way I could express
myself best. I was a shy kid. I didn’t speak much. But
with words, I could say everything I wanted to say,
clearly and meaningfully.
My mother’s first language is
Tagalog. Back in the Philippines, English is the second
language, so she was pretty good at speaking it. But often
times she’d mix up present tense with past tense and past
tense with future tense, so people often made fun of her.
Lots of times, those people were my classmates who’d come
over for a playdate and hear her speak.
"Why does your mom speak like
that?"
"Does she not know how to speak
English?" they’d whisper to me.
At the time, my mother would
always pretend not to hear them. But when they were gone,
and it was time to do my homework, she’d say to me,
"Angela, practice your English very hard. Read books.
Write your stories. This way no one can ever make fun of
you. This way, you’d always be one of them."
Writing became a way of belonging.
I never had much of a problem in public school. Everything
was diverse. But my mother believed in moving me back and
forth from private to public school as a way of exposing
me to different cultures. I could meet different people to
have a better understanding of what was around me.
Private school always tended to be
predominantly white, well-to-do families. My mother was a
single mother who worked as a babysitter, and I often
would attend private school on scholarships. I often felt
out of place. My friends used to go to a pizza parlor
every day after school, and I wouldn’t join them because
we didn’t have the money to spend so wastefully.
But eventually, I would always be
saved by my writing. English was always my best subject,
and my teachers saw how much I loved to write. I became
the girl who was good at writing and that made me finally
feel like I belonged.
Our prompt this month is to talk
about what is more valuable: a picture or 1000 words? I
think based on the above, it’s obvious that for me it’s
1000 words. But I want to explain why it could be a
picture too.
For some reason, my friends always
end up discovering a passion for photography. One has even
moved to San Francisco and has been featured in magazines.
There is so much to worry about with photography, in my
opinion. The lighting, the contrast and the saturation all
have to be perfect to capture exactly what’s intended. But
what I find most interesting is how photos have the
ability to convey emotion.
What I’ve learned from my
photography friends is that a good photo makes you feel
something. It leaves a mark. I can see that in the sense
of how old photos bring on the feeling of nostalgia. But
even some current pictures, pictures I may take today for
my Instagram, will one day remind me of a time in the past
when I was happy, celebrating or free.
That’s the best thing about
photos. People take pictures during their best times.
During sad, dark, or fearful moments, most people don’t
pull out their camera to take a photo, although there may
be some exceptions. They take them when they feel most
confident, most happy. Pictures allow others to see what
is most important in a person’s life because we take
pictures of things that we find meaningful, of moments we
don’t want to forget. There are stories in pictures. And
while it may mean more to one person, it may convey more
feeling for another.
Words are more straightforward, I
think. They are more universal. They either mean something
or they don’t. Like pictures, they are open to
interpretation. They may strike a chord with certain
people, and they may make others cry. But words are not
stuck in the past. They can encourage for the future or
clarify the present. They can relate to everyone and
anyone, not only those in a picture. Words are timeless,
which cannot be said about most things. For me, words are
more valuable because they are explicit.
They can contain details and
stories and specifics that may otherwise not be known if
you were simply looking at a picture. They can be used
anywhere; they can be used without needing anything. Words
can be the greatest weapon, while pictures are only a
shield.
Now, I don’t have anything against
pictures. Pictures show things for what they truly are.
And perhaps that is their advantage over words. They are
transparent; they can’t lie. Words can be manipulated and
can be used to manipulate other people. They can be used
in such a way that can promote falsehoods. They aren’t
trustworthy. While pictures simply are. Pictures hold the
truth. They expose your imperfections and cannot be
changed to your desire. They tell things how they are and
cannot be manipulated in the same way.
In my life, words have played such
a big part. They have helped me through troublesome and
lonely times. They allowed me to express myself during my
best times, and through my darkest times. Words can truly
transport you to another world, in both books and in
stories. They helped me say the things I would never have
the ability to say out loud. They remind me of my mother.
They remind me of my childhood. For me, words will forever
be more valuable than pictures.
Read other articles by Angela (Tongohan) Guiano
A blank canvas
Morgan Rooney
MSMU Class of 2020
I don’t believe that you can
compare what can be shown in a photo and what can be
described through the written word. They have the ability
to complement each other, but the saying "a picture is
worth a thousand words" doesn’t necessarily ring true with
me.
The are benefits of a picture that
you could not begin to explain in words. When portraying
emotions, or the human perception of beauty, or viewing
something one might find disturbing, no words could
describe those elements with the justice they deserve. An
example I can think of is ‘V-J Day in Times Square.’ This
is a photo I am certain everyone has seen before. The
emotions and spontaneity of the events in the photo are
perfectly captured in this photograph and would not be
better described through speech or writing.
Another photo that shows what
words cannot is the photo of Phan Th Kim Phúc, also known
as the Napalm girl. This was a photo taken in June, 1972
near a village occupied by North Vietnam forces. South
Vietnam soldiers dropped a napalm bomb in this village,
leading Kim Phúc, only nine years old, and other civilians
to flee. The photo is captured as Kim Phúc is running down
the road, naked and crying, alongside the others. The
emotions and disturbing nature of this photo is something
that could not be reciprocated through words. It’s
something one needs to view to feel what is meant to be
felt.
The same would go for a
breathtaking view. Not even the greatest author could
describe the colors of a sunset or the way all the shadows
in a forest fall in a way that would give the same
ambiance as seeing it. No one can describe where each star
is in a night sky and all else that lingers in the air.
When the visual sense is so strong, a photo would be
appropriate.
A photo alone however, isn’t left
without its flaws. Photos can be taken completely out of
context with no information. Photos cannot hold the
information of 1000 words, and more than 1000 words can
hold all the emotions and beauty that a photo does.
"Seeing is believing," people
often say, but these days, people believe what they want
to believe. If a photo shows something they don’t want to
believe they will formulate a reasoning (whether that be
true or untrue) for why what is shown is false. If someone
wants to believe the testimony of others through the
written word, they will, and if not, they won’t. If a
quality author is writing, there is no limits on what can
be said.
Sight is not the only sense,
however, that humans possess. In a photo, it is impossible
to describe taste, touch, sounds, or smells, or even that
gut feeling you get when something is wrong. The eeriness
of the fog that hangs over a field, and the overwhelming
smell of ocean mist on the beach in the winter cannot be
described through a simple, still photo. The same goes for
the sound of vultures circling above, rustling of trees,
or the cracking of the pine needles on the fire on a night
which has temperatures well below zero and your fingers
feel like they are about to snap right off.
When reading a story, and when
fully immersing yourself into that story with no
distractions, the reader can create that picture in his or
her mind with overwhelming detail, as the brain is capable
of such things. The same is not true of a picture. When
looking at a photo, the viewer can make any assumptions
they want about that photo, but unless they were present
when it was captured, there is no way to know if the
information they gathered is true, or they are being
deceived.
Even if a story is being read to
you, you can close your eyes and imagine what is happening
word by word. We can put ourselves right there in the
story to understand how our characters feel to the best of
our ability.
As a writer myself, something that
I try to keep in mind whenever I start something new is
that a blank page is like an empty canvas, but with even
more potential (as far as my talents go at the very
least). When writing, there are absolutely no limitations
of what could make it on that page. I could write about
anything I could possibly conceive and bring it to life
through the limited vocabulary our language (or any other
language I may be knowledgeable of) has.
I could write about the most
beautiful moment of my life, or of an entire fantasized
event that has no possibility of occurring. I could write
the most hateful words and disturbing messages and they
would hold power. Words, most of the time, can tell
stories in greater detail than photos can because they are
not limited to sight, but can describe visuals in a way
that brings them to life.
Words can describe emotions in a
different way than photos. There isn’t an easy way to take
a photo that portrays how much you love a person. It is
more beneficial to write them a letter and pour your heart
and soul into your words. You can describe that warm,
fluttery feeling you get in your stomach and the way you
heart stops every time you see them.
There are truly no limits set to
what you can put on a blank page. A white canvas could be
filled with any amount of colors with no limitations.
Photos and words are certainly not interchangeable and
they are both great ways to communicate certain messages.
They complement each other but can also stand alone, given
the right circumstances. A picture is not worth 1000
words, yet 1000 words isn’t worth a picture either. They
hold their own.
Read other articles by Morgan Rooney
In the beginning
was the Word
Shea Rowell
MSMU
Class of 2019
In the first novel she ever wrote,
Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen allows her narrator a bit of
a soapbox moment. She addresses those who claim that
reading literature is a waste of time: "It is only a
novel..." she writes, "or, in short, only some work in
which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in
which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the
happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest
effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in
the best-chosen language." From the perspective of an
English major studying Austen’s novels, this quotation
fills me with joy each time I read it, because it
beautifully captures the power of the written word, which
I have always believed in.
It may sound old-fashioned, and
perhaps it is, but the written word carries history’s
weight as the most versatile and effective form of human
communication. Our nation’s existence owes itself to the
written word: the Federalist papers that rallied the
colonies behind the idea of unification against the
British Empire, and the Declaration of Independence which
initiated our fight for freedom; the Emancipation
Proclamation which freed American men, women, and children
from their bondage in slavery; Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr.’s "Letter from Birmingham Jail," and his iconic, "I
have a dream" speech that changed the hearts of many
Americans, black and white, in support of a better nation
for us all.
Even in a town as small as
Emmitsburg, it is the written word that preserves its
history: past, present, and future. It is the letters in
the hand writing of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Fr. John
DuBois that display the over two-hundred-year-old story of
Mount St. Mary’s University, St. Joseph’s College, the
Sisters of St. Joseph, and the Sisters, now Daughters, of
Charity. It is the old copies of the Emmitsburg Chronicle
that remind us where we came from as a town; that document
the daily lives, losses, and gains of Emmitsburg
residents.
This is why historians and
scholars mourn for the lost libraries of history, the
books burned by world upheavals such as the treasures of
the Library of Alexandria, the destruction of monasteries
following the Protestant Reformation, and ancient
religious texts following imperial conquests and transfers
of military force. Language is power, which is why the
powers of history have always been wary of dissenting
words, why censorship is so central to the success of a
repressive regime, and why free speech is such a threat to
those whose power depends on fear.
Today, we live in a culture of
images. A picture is worth a thousand words, or so they
say. They catch our attention, attract our eyes, flood our
minds through the screens of our televisions, computers,
and phones. Images, of course, are effective
communicators. They give us symbols we can recognize
anywhere, allow us to share visual realities and provide
access to parts of the world we may never see ourselves.
Images are particularly apt at
creating beauty to please the eye. In this way, the image
stands alone. When it comes to communication, however, a
picture cannot exist without words to explain it, make
sense of it, or guide its interpretation. A newspaper or
magazine photo is nearly always accompanied by a caption
and an article to give it context; even social media
photos are incomplete without their captions, and the
proceeding comment-section conversation. Words, however,
can stand alone. Novels, articles, and social media posts
are complete without a photo alongside them. Words, like
images, can create beauty on their own as well. Fiction
stories create elaborate worlds, characters, and
plotlines. Poets create images of beauty, spirituality,
and potency. The image creates beauty for the eye: the
word for the imagination.
Language is the human mind’s
greatest achievement; it is part of what makes us more
than animals on an arbitrary evolutionary timeline. Humans
not only feel, they express their feelings. They not only
reflect and discover, but record and preserve their
findings for the benefit of posterity. Language is an
essential component of who we are as human beings, as
members of communities, and as individuals. The languages
we speak, the words we choose, and even the stylistic
variations we employ reveal our personalities, preferences
and quirks. When you write, you reveal yourself to the
world.
One of my favorite literary
examples of the centrality of words to the human person is
from a sermon by the Anglican priest and poet, John Donne.
In Meditation XVII, he compares the contents of the human
soul to the contents of a book. He writes that "all
mankind is of one author and is one volume; when one man
dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but
translated into a better language; and every chapter must
be so translated. God employs several translators; some
pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by
war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every
translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered
leaves again for that library where every book shall lie
open to one another." To create, God speaks. "God said,
‘Let there be light’ and there was light" (Genesis 1:3).
His creation, then, is like his work of literature, in
which each creature is the protagonist of his or her own
story.
This metaphor rings true in many
religious contexts. In Christianity, our Messiah is the
incarnate Word of God. In Judaism, the most sacred and
central treasure is the Tanakh, the Word and law of God.
Likewise in Islam, the Qur’an cannot be handled with
unwashed hands, or translated into other languages. In all
three of the Abrahamic religions, the Word of God is
sacred, central, and without it the religion is void. The
written word is intimately linked with the human soul; it
forms the link between the human and the divine. We were
made in His image; we were made with His words.
Read other articles by Shea Rowell
Read Past Editions of Four Years at the Mount
