Speak

Communication is instinct.

Shakespearean sonnets, battle cries, the Presidential address, an Oscar acceptance speech. All words. All language. Language: an intricate creation of mankind to recreate the creations of God. God created emotions, feelings, small instances in our day evoke countless ideas and emotions that are all God's creation. God also created the desire to speak. The desire to communicate. The desire to express the desires He had already instilled in us. God created our voices: our vocal cords, lungs, lips, tongues. God gave us mind. Intellect. With our intellect, with our voices, with our desire to speak, we created Language.
We turned sounds, syllables, shapes of the lip and flicks of the tongue, into separate words. Each word holds a meaning. Different words together hold different meanings. Words are categorized, given roles: nouns, verbs, adjectives, articles. Patterns of words are formed into sentences with structural laws. With these sentences, which are just words, which are just vibrations of the vocal cords and movements of the mouth, we make symbolism, metaphor, poetry, song. We've made meaning within a meaning of something that was only created to represent preexisting meaning. Anything--Everything can be explained, described. Writing: expressing thought with language in a permanent state, that can be preserved forever, known forever. An eternal thought, living beyond its creator. Reading: taking the thought expressed in writing. Feeling something someone else has felt. Understanding. Learning what someone else has discovered.

With all the basic tools God gave us, including the great desire to express, mankind has created--evolved--language. People often ask what is the greatest and most important invention or discovery to mankind. Some say cars, electricity, the printing press, refrigeration, paper. But really, undoubtedly, the most important invention of mankind for mankind, is language. What if all the electricity in the world suddenly disappeared forever? Well, gosh, that would be terribly inconvenient. Surely many would die. People would be angry, lost, terrified. But we've lived without electricity before. Hundreds of years ago.
Now imagine a world without language. No one could speak, read, or write. Natural, instinctive expressions like crying and smiling would remain. People could see basic emotions: anger, sadness, humor. But we can never say, and never know why. Why are you mad? What can I do to help? What do you want? None of that. We could move. Like punching people. But no sign language, no movements that represent words. No counting with fingers. Simple expressions, simple gestures. But no language. That is an unlivable world.

And so, I could drone on and on expressing my fascination with the simple notion of language. But the fingers of my only functional hand cannot keep up with my thoughts. So, the point... Silent treatment. Refusal to speak. Noncommunication. They all throw away the greatest invention, the greatest blessing, the outcome of God's greatest gift. They throw it away. Silence it. God blessed us with the opportunity--the ability--to work out our differences, to connect out thoughts and minds and understand one another. Refusing God's gift is a slap to His face. A refusal to do what He intended you to do. A terrible sin.

Speak! Listen! Not doing so is like living without a part of God.