Our language is ill equipped to handle the complexities of telling a person how much you feel for them when they have lost someone. My brother once went on a rant, shortly after is father died. Specifically - what the hell IS a condolence? Why are you offering it to me or giving it to me? What the hell am I supposed to do with a partially used condolence? Imagine this all in a George Carlin-esque type rant and you're almost there.
He has a point though.
A lot of people have been pretty straight with me, saying they just don't know what to say, but that they do feel for me. My response has been that it isn't that you have to know what say, but that you want to say something in the first place that matters. But really, why is language so inept?
No comments:
Post a Comment