Friday 21 February 2020

words...

I never believed in the old saying about sticks and stones and words... I always thought that words are so powerful that they can break bones! Remember how Hannibal Lecter convinces his fellow inmate to kill himself just with words in “Silence of the lambs”?... ok, extreme and gross, my example, but you get my drift... Words can bring the ultimate joy or the abysmal sorrow, words can make us feel like we are flying over fields of green and skies of blue (just like in the song...) or like we are slowly crawling down a dark pit... words... have always affected my life perhaps even more than the actual events... I have been offered words that I think I will never forget, not even when I have forgotten my own name... good words... bad words, mostly... words that have left their mark on my soul... unspeakable words... beautiful words... cruel words...

So, when last Saturday I went to the theatre to see the definitive play about words and their power, “Cyrano de Bergerac”, I knew it would be... well, powerful!... what I did not know, was that I was going to be so overwhelmed with emotions, like an avalanche, all of them at once, the good the bad and... the ugly! Because, James McAvoy’s Cyrano, is ugly... he is ugly because he feels ugly... and the famous big nose, that is not there physically to see, is somehow more present than ever! And I shared his pain, I shared his love, I shared his desperation, I shared his shame, I shared his fear, I shared his joy at times, I shared his brief moments of feeling superior, smug even, followed by long periods of feeling the most unworthy man on the face of the Earth... I shared his secret, I shared his laughter and his tears... and I shared all that because... he shared his words with me!

He says “ I love words, that’s all...”... yes... me too! I love words too! I love them, I dread them, I cherish them, I believe them, I ignore them, I forget them ever so often (if I had a Euro for every time I forgot the word I was looking for in the language I wanted it in... I would buy more shoes, probably...). Words tell our stories, express our feelings, allow people to know who we are or hide us from them, comfort us and let us comfort the ones we love, protect us or expose us, make us laugh, make us cry, make us happy, make us miserable... they make us kind or monstrous... they make or break relationships, they start and end wars... words make us human...

Words are better than shoes... but, just like shoes, they need to be chosen and used wisely 😉

Ps. Yes, the play was “better than shoes” too, of course, and yes, go see it if you still can! It’s unforgettable! 

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