Is Hearing More Important Than Seeing?

Posted on by metroupe

“Helen Keller maintained that the gift of hearing was far more important than the gift of sight because hearing allows the gift of speech, and speech allows the nurturing of relationship. language connects us to the heart of others in a way nothing else can.”

This is a quote from “Minute of Margin,” a book by an author that has had a huge impact on my thinking.  My wife and I are currently reading the book together for the second time. It is about overload, burnout, and the peaceful life. Dr. Swenson wrote another book called “Margin” that covered the same general topic. But he turned the content into daily readings for more accessibility. Evidently most of the people that need to hear about rest and margin are too busy to read a whole book on the topic.

Swenson, Richard A. A Minute of Margin: Restoring Balance to Busy Lives. Colorado Springs, CO: NAVPRESS, 2003. Print.

Monday Morning Haiku- Friendship

Posted on by metroupe

Conversation Haiku

I wrote these after our son unexpected stopped by our home.  He attends a nearby university and we hadn’t seen him in a little while (about a week, I know that is not long, but it still feels long when you enjoy your children). Our conversation volleyed back and forth like a good tennis match. These poems are as much about conversation as friendship. Is there really much of a difference?

Haiku 3.23.15

Together Again

Conversation flows

Between friends after a break

Catching up on life.

-mtroupe 2015

 

Conversation

Words share life and love

Friends speak of things that moved them

While they were apart.

-mtroupe 2015

 

Soul Food

Stories delight us

Nourishing the souls of friends

Bringing joy to life.

-mtroupe 2015

Edited photo used by permission of Kathleen Conklin. Some rights reserved

Nomadic Words

Posted on by metroupe

Words

Here is a brief article for people (read: NERDS) that are fascinated by words. I can’t remember where I found it. Maybe the Arts & Letters Daily. Anyway it is a write up on how certain words travel from one language and find their home in another. For instance, the Koreans don’t have a word for “salad,” so they borrow ours with a little change: saleodu.  But English-speakers don’t have a word for salad either, we just carjacked the latin term insalata. These are loan words or “calques.” So hearing a Spanish language sports announcer say “Los Dodgers” isn’t really strange after all.

Evidently the folks at Princeton University Press have published a whole entire book on this, especially focusing on the words and languages that have shaped the history of philosophy. You’ll want to buy one quick as they’re going fast.

Here is something else really interesting:

“There are more than 6,000 tongues spoken on the planet today (although more than half of them surely will die out by century’s close).”

Dictionary of Untranslatables — The Barnes & Noble Review.

Photo courtesy of Chris Duglosz Some rights reserved