For what it's worth

Lately I've been doing a lot of considering of my view of the value of the written word.

Previously, I've always held fast that if it was worth writing down, it should have impact. It should cause thought or laughter or feeling.

I know this review has arisen from my finally giving in to Facebook and to the inundation of Twitter in our society. I disdained the Facebook habit of telling me what you had for lunch or your mundane plans for a Saturday afternoon. I took special exception to the character limitations in Twitter. At first glance, there just didn't seem to be enough room to express in that limitation, and therefore we got mired in minatue.

I had to give second thought when I considered some of the great statements of Anglo literature. They are small phrases. "To be or not to be," for example.

Then again, they don't stand alone. None of them. The phrases that are critical to our feeling and thinking and part of our vocabulary are outtakes from something larger. Even Ben Franklin's greatest pithy quotes are from entire volumes of Poor Richard's Almanac.

I also considered if I'm just being elitist. Facebook and Twitter, like copious numbers of other Internet opportunities, have let anyone and everyone with a computer speak out. That should be a good thing, the benefit of widespread viewpoints.

But, again, it's not used to express. It's used by far the most often to just speak. Maybe babble is a better word.

I'm glad I did Facebook. I found mountains of former acquaintances. I got to see the faces of some very important to me whom I hadn't viewed in years. But I think it's like all the other information we all have to plow through everyone day. We have to cut through the volume to find the importance.

I just hope it doesn't become so much garbage we never discover the rose by whatever written name that smells as sweet.