You stole my story and something's got to be done about it.
I saw a stop sign, and it occurred to me that just as no one expects a stop sign to stop a car, I shouldn__ expect words to substitute for experience. That__ not their job, although words certainly can be misused in that way. The job of words is to direct us toward experience, to round out experience, to facilitate experience, and to give us ways to share at least pale shadows of that experience with those we love. And the job of words is to help us learn to be _ and act _ human.
Walking on Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution
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I saw a stop sign, and it occurred to me that just as no one expects a stop sign to stop a car, I shouldn__ expect words to substitute for experience. That__ not their job, although words certainly can be misused in that way. The job of words is to direct us toward experience, to round out experience, to facilitate experience, and to give us ways to share at least pale shadows of that experience with those we love. And the job of words is to help us learn to be _ and act _ human.
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And one of my firmest conclusions is that we always think by seeking and drawing parallels to things we know from our past, and that we therefore communicate best when we exploit examples, analogies, and metaphors galore, when we avoid abstract generalities, when we use very down-to-earth, concrete, and simple language, and when we talk directly about our own experience.