Words

I just love words. I love the way they work together, so cooperatively, to do so many different things. It's truly fantastic. Even when people try (often unsuccessfully) to make an acronym out of their license plates, our brains are able to conjure up the words and a variety of different possible phrases. How could our culture be tweaked so that we might truly enjoy the pleasure of using our brains more in this way? It seems like we put a lot of emphasis on financial success, fashion acumen, physical beauty and other things that don't really bring us that much joy in a moment to moment basis. But playing with words--great fun. Since a culture's definition often follows the money trail, I'd like to propose a few new well-paid careers that would spotlight the joys of wordsmithery. Then, perhaps, more people would spend time pursuing it themselves (in order to qualify for such a coveted job) and instead find more joy and contentment. I have a dream that people would rise up and demand the following:

1. A National Secretary of Vocabulary. The person who earned this position would hold press conferences, write journals, and design riddles to expand the vocabulary of the American people. He or she would sponsor a word of the day that would be posted in all newspapers, schools, and on the little running ribbon at the bottom of cnn instead of the latest foiled robbery attempt.

2. An American Idol of Words. Contestants would create stories, on the spot, using a random grouping of words. Mysteries, Love stories, Nonfiction, Self-Help, could all be the themes for each week. Of course, story telling skills would earn bonus points and everyone knows great storytellers are usually avid readers.

3. Instead of the National Basketball Association, we'd have multimillion dollar paid National Book Athletes. They would compete in a wide array of events based on book characters. The more characters you knew (and the way in which they extricated themselves from predicaments), the better you'd perform in the National Book Arena surrounded by millions of screaming fans, of course, most of which are ten-year-old boys whose only prayer is to have YOUR JOB.

4. Lastly, on ESPN Books(ESPN acronym for Every Single Person Needs). The 'play of the week' would be a scene from a book or story. It would act as a teaser for readers everywhere to run out and see how the described conflict is resolved. It would be water-cooler talk everywhere.

I'm sure there are countless more, maybe you can help, but certainly this movement would be a start in the right direction. Please do your part to promote these events in your family and community. Or be like me and watch Whose Line Is It Anyway? , the closest thing we've got. Well, and OM!