There is a beautiful scene towards the end of the movie The Miracle Worker, portraying the life of Helen Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan. Little Hellen, portrayed very well by Hallie Kate Eisenberg, is being literally 'tortured' by her teacher, to get beyond the easy way of life and see the depth of meaning that lies behind words and language. The moment Hellen 'utters' the word 'water', Anne knows that she has tasted the meaning behind the word. From then on, it is a roller-coaster ride. Anne does not need to teach, for Hellen begins to learn.
Words gain importance not for the sound or the space they occupy but for the meaning they generate - or not. Till then they are just sounds. How blessed are we if we grasp the meaning of what we hear. Most often, we barely grasp the meaning of words we hear, leave alone, of all the sounds that fall on our ear. With regard to my Brothers here, I have a feeling that they already have a limited stock of meanings in their head and are very happy rotating those few meanings and every sound they hear, they attach the closest meaning they can or probably do some gambling and pick some meaning at random. Or is it that they, like Hellen have not really tasted the beauty of meaning and depth?
Words gain importance not for the sound or the space they occupy but for the meaning they generate - or not. Till then they are just sounds. How blessed are we if we grasp the meaning of what we hear. Most often, we barely grasp the meaning of words we hear, leave alone, of all the sounds that fall on our ear. With regard to my Brothers here, I have a feeling that they already have a limited stock of meanings in their head and are very happy rotating those few meanings and every sound they hear, they attach the closest meaning they can or probably do some gambling and pick some meaning at random. Or is it that they, like Hellen have not really tasted the beauty of meaning and depth?
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